VIKINGS  OF 
THE  PACIFIC 


A.C.LAUT 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 


Vikings  of  the  Pacific 

THE   ADVENTURES 

OF    THE 

EXPLORERS   WHO    CAME   FROM    THE 
WEST,   EASTWARD 


BERING,    THE     DANE;     THE    OUTLAW     HUNTERS    OF    RUSSIA; 
BENYOWSKY,    THE    POLISH    PIRATE;    COOK    AND    VAN- 
COUVER, THE    ENGLISH    NAVIGATORS  ;    GRAY    OF 
BOSTON,   THE    DISCOVERER    OF    THE    COLUM- 
BIA;    DRAKE,    LEDYARD,    AND    OTHER 
SOLDIERS    OF    FORTUNE    ON    THE 
WEST    COAST   OF   AMERICA 


BY 

A.    C.    LAUT 

AUTHOR   OF   "PATHFINDERS   OF   THE  WEST,"   ETC. 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

LONDON  :    MACMILLAN   &    CO.,  LTD. 
I9H 

All  rights  reserved 


COPYRIGHT,  1905, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  December,  1905.     Reprinted 
January,  1914. 


XottaooO 

J.  8.  Gushing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


College 
Library 

w 

(-377 


Foreword 

AT  the  very  time  the  early  explorers  of  New  France 
were  pressing  from  the  east,  westward,  a  tide  of  ad- 
venture had  set  across  Siberia  and  the  Pacific  from 
the  west,  eastward.  Cartier  and  Champlain  of  New 
France  in  the  east  have  their  counterparts  and  con- 
temporaries on  the  Pacific  coast  of  America  in  Francis 
Drake,  the  English  pirate  on  the  coast  of  California, 
and  in  Staduchin  and  DeshnefF  and  other  Cossack 
plunderers  of  the  North  Pacific,  whose  rickety  keels 
first  ploughed  a  furrow  over  the  trackless  sea  out  from 
Asia.  Marquette,  Jolliet  and  La  Salle  —  backed  by 
the  prestige  of  the  French  government  are  not  unlike 
the  English  navigators,  Cook  and  Vancouver,  sent  out 
by  the  English  Admiralty.  Radisson,  privateer  and 
adventurer,  might  find  counterpart  on  the  Pacific 
coast  in  either  Gray,  the  discoverer  of  the  Columbia, 
or  Ledyard,  whose  ill-fated,  wildcat  plans  resulted 
in  the  Lewis  and  Clark  expedition.  Bering  was  con- 
temporaneous with  La  Verendrye;  and  so  the  com- 
parison might  be  carried  on  between  Benyowsky,  the 
Polish  pirate  of  the  Pacific,  or  the  Outlaw  Hunters  of 
Russia,  and  the  famous  buccaneers  of  the  eastern 
Spanish  Main.  The  main  point  is  —  that  both  tides 

vii 


viii  FOREWORD 

of  adventure,  from  the  east,  westward,  from  the  west, 
eastward,  met,  and  clashed,  and  finally  coalesced  in 
the  great  fur  trade,  that  won  the  West. 

The  Spaniards  of  the  Southwest  —  even  when  they 
extended  their  explorations  into  the  Northwest  - 
have  not  been  included  in  this  volume,  for  the  simple 
reason  they  would  require  a  volume  by  themselves. 
Also,  their  aims  as  explorers  were  always  secondary 
to  their  aims  as  treasure  hunters;  and  their  main  ex- 
ploits were  confined  to  the  Southwest.  Other  Pacific 
coast  explorers,  like  La  Perouse,  are  not  included  here 
because  they  were  not,  in  the  truest  sense,  discoverers, 
and  their  exploits  really  belong  to  the  story  of  the  fights 
among  the  different  fur  companies,  who  came  on  the 
ground  after  the  first  adventurers. 

In  every  case,  reference  has  been  to  first  sources,  to 
the  records  left  by  the  doers  of  the  acts  themselves,  or 
their  contemporaries  —  some  of  the  data  in  manu- 
script, some  in  print;  but  it  may  as  well  be  frankly 
acknowledged  that  all  first  sources  have  not  been  ex- 
hausted. To  do  so  in  the  case  of  a  single  explorer, 
say  either  Drake  or  Bering  —  would  require  a  life- 
time. For  instance,  there  are  in  St.  Petersburg  some 
thirty  thousand  folios  on  the  Bering  expedition  to 
America.  Probably  only  one  person  —  a  Danish 
professor  —  has  ever  examined  all  of  these;  and  the 
results  of  his  investigations  I  have  consulted.  Also, 
there  are  in  the  State  Department,  Washington,  some 
hundred  old  log-books  of  the  Russian  hunters  which 


FOREWORD  ix 

have  —  as  far  as  I  know  —  never  been  turned  by  a 
single  hand,  though  I  understand  their  outsides  were 
looked  at  during  the  fur  seal  controversy.  The  data 
on  this  era  of  adventure  I  have  chiefly  obtained  from 
the  works  of  Russian  archivists,  published  in  French 
and  English.  To  give  a  list  of  all  authorities  quoted 
would  be  impossible.  On  Alaska  alone,  the  least- 
known  section  of  the  Pacific  coast,  there  is  a  biblio- 
graphical list  of  four  thousand.  The  better-known 
coast  southward  has  equally  voluminous  records.  Nor 
is  such  a  list  necessary.  Nine-tenths  of  it  are  made 
up  of  either  descriptive  works  or  purely  scientific  pam- 
phlets; and  of  the  remaining  tenth,  the  contents  are 
obtained  in  undiluted  condition  by  going  directly  to 
the  first  sources.  A  few  of  these  first  sources  are  in- 
dicated in  each  section. 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  Gray  —  as  true  a 
naval  hero  as  ever  trod  the  quarter-deck,  who  did  the 
same  for  the  West  as  Cartier  for  the  St.  Lawrence, 
and  Hudson  for  the  river  named  after  him  —  is  the 
one  man  of  the  Pacific  coast  discoverers  of  whom 
there  are  scantiest  records.  Authentic  histories  are  still 
written,  that  cast  doubt  on  his  achievement.  Certainly 
a  century  ago  Gray  was  lionized  in  Boston ;  but  it  may 
be  his  feat  was  overshadowed  by  the  world-history  of 
the  new  American  republic  and  the  Napoleonic  wars 
at  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century;  or  the  world 
may  have  taken  him  at  his  own  valuation;  and  Gray 
was  a  hero  of  the  non-shouting  sort.  The  data  on 


x  FOREWORD 

Gray's  discovery  have  been  obtained  from  the  de- 
scendants of  the  Boston  men  who  outfitted  him,  and 
from  his  own  great-grandchildren.  Though  he  died 
a  poor  man,  the  red  blood  of  his  courage  and  ability 
seems  to  have  come  down  to  his  descendants;  for  their 
names  are  among  the  best  known  in  contemporary 
American  life.  To  them  my  thanks  are  tendered. 
Since  the  contents  of  this  volume  appeared  serially  in 
Leslie's  Monthly,  Outing,  and  Harper's  Magazine, 
fresh  data  have  been  sent  to  me  on  minor  points 
from  descendants  of  the  explorers  and  from  collectors. 
I  take  this  opportunity  to  thank  these  contributors. 
Among  many  others,  special  thanks  are  due  Dr.  George 
Davidson,  President  of  San  Francisco  Geographical 
Society,  for  facts  relating  to  the  topography  of  the 
coast,  and  to  Dr.  Leo  Stejneger  of  the  Smithsonian, 
Washington,  for  facts  gathered  on  the  very  spot  where 
Bering  perished. 

WASSAIC,  NEW  YORK, 
July  15,  1905. 


CONTENTS 

PART   I 

DEALING  WITH  THE  RUSSIANS  ON  THE  PACIFIC  COAST  OF 
AMERICA  —  BERING,  THE  DANE,  THE  SEA-OTTER  HUNT- 
ERS, THE  OUTLAWS,  AND  BENYOWSKY,  THE  POLISH  PIRATE 

CHAPTER   I 

1700-1743 
VITUS  BERING,  THE  DANE 

PAGE 

Peter  the  Great  sends  Bering  on  Two  Voyages  :  First,  to  dis- 
cover whether  America  and  Asia  are  united  ;  Second,  to 
find  what  lies  north  of  New  Spain  —  Terrible  Hardships 
of  Caravans  crossing  Siberia  for  Seven  Thousand  Miles  — 
Ships  lost  in  the  Mist  —  Bering's  Crew  cast  away  on  a 
Barren  Isle  ........  3 

CHAPTER   II 

i?4I-I743 
CONTINUATION  OF  BERING,   THE  DANE 

Frightful  Sufferings  of  the  Castaways  on  the  Commander  Islands 
—  The  Vessel  smashed  in  a  Winter  Gale,  the  Sick  are 
dragged  for  Refuge  into  Pits  of  Sand  —  Here,  Bering 
perishes,  and  the  Crew  Winter  —  The  Consort  Ship  under 
ChirikofF  Ambushed  —  How  the  Castaways  reach  Home  .  37 


xii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   III 

1741-1760 
THE  SEA-OTTER  HUNTERS 

1    V    i- 

How  the  Sea-otter  Pelts  brought  back  by  Bering's  Crew  led 
to  the  Exploitation  of  the  Northwest  Coast  of  America  — 
Difference  of  Sea-otter  from  Other  Fur-bearing  Animals  of 
the  West  —  Perils  of  the  Hunt    .  .       62 

CHAPTER   IV 

1760-1770 
THE  OUTLAW  HUNTERS 

The  American  Coast  becomes  the  Great  Rendezvous  for  Siberian 
Criminals  and  Political  Exiles  —  Beyond  Reach  of  Law, 
Cossacks  and  Criminals  perpetrate  Outrages  on  the  Indians 
—  The  Indians'  Revenge  wipes  out  Russian  Forts  in  Amer- 
ica —  The  Pursuit  of  Four  Refugee  Russians  from  Cave  to 
Cave  over  the  Sea  at  Night  —  How  they  escape  after  a 
Year's  Chase  .  .  .  ,  .  .  .  .  80 

CHAPTER    V 

1768-1772 
COUNT  MAURITIUS  BENYOWSKY,  THE  POLISH  PIRATE 

Siberian  Exiles  under  Polish  Soldier  of  Fortune  plot  to  over- 
throw Garrison  of  Kamchatka  and  escape  to  West  Coast 
of  America  as  Fur  Traders  —  A  Bloody  Melodrama  enacted 
at  Bolcheresk  —  The  Count  and  his  Criminal  Crew  sail  to 
America  1 06 


CONTENTS  xiii 


PART   II 

AMERICAN  AND  ENGLISH  ADVENTURERS  ON  THE  WEST  COAST 
OF  AMERICA  —  FRANCIS  DRAKE  IN  CALIFORNIA  —  COOK, 
FROM  BRITISH  COLUMBIA  TO  ALASKA  —  LEDYARD,  THE 
FORERUNNER  OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK  —  GRAY,  THE  DIS- 
COVERER OF  THE  COLUMBIA  —  VANCOUVER,  THE  LAST  OF 
THE  WEST  COAST  NAVIGATORS 


CHAPTER   VI 

1562-1595 
FRANCIS  DRAKE  IN  CALIFORNIA 

PAGE 

How  the  Sea  Rover  was  attacked  and  ruined  as  a  Boy  on  the 
Spanish  Main  off  Mexico  —  His  Revenge  in  sacking  Span- 
ish Treasure  Houses  and  crossing  Panama  —  The  Richest 
Man  in  England,  he  sails  to  the  Forbidden  Sea,  scuttles  all 
the  Spanish  Ports  up  the  West  Coast  of  South  America 
and  takes  Possession  of  New  Albion  (California)  for 
England  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  133 

CHAPTER   VII 

1728-1779 
CAPTAIN   COOK  IN  AMERICA 

The  English  Navigator  sent  Two  Hundred  Years  later  to  find 
the  New  Albion  of  Drake's  Discoveries  —  He  misses  both 
the  Straits  of  Fuca  and  the  Mouth  of  the  Columbia,  but 
anchors  at  Nootka,  the  Rendezvous  of  Future  Traders  — 


xhr  CONTENTS 

PACK 

No  Northeast  Passage  found  through  Alaska  —  The  True 
Cause  of  Cook's  Murder  in  Hawaii  told  by  Ledyard  — 
Russia  becomes  Jealous  of  his  Explorations  .  .  .172 


CHAPTER   VIII 

1785-1792 
ROBERT  GRAY,  THE  AMERICAN  DISCOVERER  OF  THE  COLUMBIA 

Boston  Merchants,  inspired  by  Cook's  Voyages,  outfit  Two 
Vessels  under  Kendrick  and  Gray  for  Discovery  and  Trade 
on  the  Pacific  —  Adventures  of  the  First  Ship  to  carry  the 
American  Flag  around  the  World  —  Gray  attacked  by 
Indians  at  Tillamook  Bay  —  His  Discovery  of  the  Colum- 
bia River  on  the  Second  Voyage  —  Fort  Defence  and  the 
First  American  Ship  built  on  the  Pacific  .  .  .210 


CHAPTER   IX 

1778-1790 
JOHN   LEDYARD,  THE   FORERUNNER  OF  LEWIS  AND  CI.ARK 

A  New  England  Ne'er-do-well,  turned  from  the  Door  of  Rich 
Relatives,  joins  Cook's  Expedition  to  America  —  Adven- 
ture among  the  Russians  of  Oonalaska  —  Useless  Endeavor 
to  interest  New  England  Merchants  in  Fur  Trade  —  A 
Soldier  of  Fortune  in  Paris,  he  meets  Jefferson  and  Paul 
Jones  and  outlines  Exploration  of  Western  America  —  Suc- 
ceeds in  crossing  Siberia  alone  on  the  Way  to  America,  but 
is  thwarted  by  Russian  Fur  Traders  .  ..  *;  .  .  ,  .  242 


CONTENTS  xv 

CHAPTER   X 

1779-1794 
GEORGE  VANCOUVER,   LAST  OF  PACIFIC  COAST  EXPLORERS 

PAGE 

Activities  of  Americans,  Spanish,  and  Russians  on  the  West  Coast 
of  America  arouse  England  —  Vancouver  is  sent  out  osten- 
sibly to  settle  the  Quarrel  between  Fur  Traders  and  Span- 
ish Governors  at  Nootka  —  Incidentally,  he  is  to  complete 
the  Exploration  of  America's  West  Coast  and  take  Possession 
for  England  of  Unclaimed  Territory  —  The  Myth  of  a 
Northeast  Passage  dispelled  Forever  .  .  .  .263 


PART   III 

EXPLORATION  GIVES  PLACE  TO  FUR  TRADE  —  THE  EXPLOITA- 
TION OF  THE  PACIFIC  COAST  UNDER  THE  RUSSIAN  AMERI- 
CAN FUR  COMPANY,  AND  THE  RENOWNED  LEADER  BARANOF 


CHAPTER   XI 

1579-1867 
THE  RUSSIAN  AMERICAN  FUR  COMPANY 

The  Pursuit  of  the  Sable  leads  Cossacks  across  Siberia  ;  of  the 
Sea-otter,  across  the  Pacific  as  far  south  as  California  — 
Caravans  of  Four  Thousand  Horses  on  the  Long  Trail 
Seven  Thousand  Miles  across  Europe  and  Asia  —  Banditti 
of  the  Sea  —  The  Union  of  All  Traders  in  One  Monopoly 
—  Siege  and  Slaughter  of  Sitka  —  How  Monroe  Doctrine 
grew  out  of  Russian  Fur  Trade  —  Aims  of  Russia  to  domi- 
nate North  Pacific  .  .  .  .  .  .  .293 


xvi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   XII 

1747-1818 
BARANOF,  THE  LITTLE  CZAR  OF  THE  PACIFIC 

PACK 

Baranof  lays  the  Foundations  of  Russian  Empire  on  the  Pacific 
Coast  of  America  —  Shipwrecked  on  his  Way  to  Alaska, 
he  yet  holds  his  Men  in  Hand  and  turns  the  111 -hap  to 
Advantage  —  How  he  bluffs  the  Rival  Fur  Companies  in 
Line  —  First  Russian  Ship  built  in  America  —  Adventures 
leading  the  Sea-otter  Hunters  —  Ambushed  by  the  Indians 
—  The  Founding  of  Sitka  —  Baranof,  cast  off  in  his  Old 
Age,  dies  of  Broken  Heart  .  .  .  .  .316 

INDEX 339 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Seal  Rookery,  Commander  Islands       ....    Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Peter  the  Great        ........          5 

Map  of  Course  followed  by  Bering      ....  20-21 

The  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  from  a  rough  sketch  by  Bering's 

comrade,  Steller,  the  scientist  .....  29 
Steller's  Arch  on  Bering  Island,  named  after  the  scientist  Steller, 

of  Bering's  Expedition  .  .  .  .  .  -39 

A  Glacier 46 

Sea  Cows Facing  53 

Seals  in  a  Rookery  on  Bering  Island  .  .  .  .  -57 
Mauritius  Augustus,  Count  Benyowsky  ,  .  .  .109 

Sir  John  Hawkins Facing  1 3  5 

Queen  Elizabeth  knighting  Drake  .  .  .  "  146 

The  Golden  Hind 1 5 1 

Francis  Drake Facing  I  5  5 

The  Crowning  of  Drake  in  California  .  .  "  164 

The  Silver  Map  of  the  World  .  .  ,  .  "  171 

Captain  James  Cook  .....  "  1 80 

The  Ice  Islands .  .  194 

The  Death  of  Cook 205 

Departure  of  the  Columbia  and  the  Lady  Washington  Facing  2  1 1 

Charles  Bulfinch 212 

Medals  commemorating  Columbia  and  Lady  Washington  Cruise  2 1  5 
Building  the  First  American  Ship  on  the  Pacific  Coast  Facing  223 
Feather  Cloak  worn  by  a  son  of  a  Hawaiian  Chief,  at  the 

celebration  in  honor  of  Gray's  return    ,          .          .          .226 


xviii  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PACK 

John  Derby    .......          Facing     228 

Map  of  Gray's  two  voyages,  resulting  in  the  discovery  of  the 

Columbia Fating     231 

A  View  of  the  Columbia  River  *          .          .          .          .237 

At  the  Mouth  of  the  Columbia  River.          ....      239 

Ledyard  in  his  Dugout      .......      244 

Captain  George  Vancouver         ....  Facing     265 

The  Columbia  in  a  Squall  ......      269 

The  Discovery  on  the  Rocks       .          .          .          .          .          .274 

Indian  Settlement  at  Nootka       .          .          .          .          .          .276 

Reindeer  Herd  in  Siberia  .          .          .          .          .  Facing     288 

Raised  Reindeer  Sledges    .......      294 

John  Jacob  Astor     .....  Facing     303 

Sitka  from  the  Sea    .  .          .          .          .          .  "          314 

Alexander  Baranof  .          .          .          .          .          .  •'          317 


PART    I 

DEALING  WITH  THE  RUSSIANS  ON  THE  PACIFIC 
COAST  OF  AMERICA  —  BERING,  THE  DANE,  THE 
SEA-OTTER  HUNTERS,  THE  OUTLAWS,  AND  BE- 
NYOWSKY,  THE  POLISH  PIRATE 


Vikings  of  the   Pacific 


CHAPTER    I 

1700-1743 
VITUS   BERING,  THE   DANE 

Peter  the  Great  sends  Bering  on  Two  Voyages  :  First,  to  discover 
whether  America  and  Asia  are  united  ;  Second,  to  find  what  lies 
north  of  New  Spain  —  Terrible  Hardships  of  Caravans  crossing 
Siberia  for  Seven  Thousand  Miles  —  Ships  lost  in  the  Mist  — 
Bering's  Crew  cast  away  on  a  Barren  Isle 

WE  have  become  such  slaves  of  shallow  science  in 
these  days,  such  firm  believers  in  the  fatalism  which 
declares  man  the  creature  of  circumstance,  that  we  have 
almost  forgotten  the  supremest  spectacle  in  life  is  when 
man  becomes  the  Creator  of  Circumstance.  We  forget 
that  man  can  rise  to  be  master  of  his  destiny,  fighting, 
unmaking,  re-creating,  not  only  his  own  environment, 
but  the  environment  of  multitudinous  lesser  men. 
There  is  something  titanic  in  such  lives.  They  are 
the  hero  myths  of  every  nation's  legends.  We  some- 

3 


4  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

how  feel  that  the  man  who  flings  off  the  handicaps  of 
birth  and  station  lifts  the  whole  human  race  to  a  higher 
plane  and  has  a  bit  of  the  God  in  him,  though  the  hero 
may  have  feet  of  clay  and  body  of  beast.  Such  were 
the  old  Vikings  of  the  North,  who  spent  their  lives  in 
elemental  warfare,  and  rode  out  to  meet  death  in 
tempest,  lashed  to  the  spar  of  their  craft.  And  such, 
too,  were  the  New  World  Vikings  of  the  Pacific,  who 
coasted  the  seas  of  two  continents  in  cockle-shell  ships, 
-  planks  lashed  with  deer  thongs,  calked  with  moss, 
—  rapacious  in  their  deep-sea  plunderings  as  beasts  of 
prey,  fearless  as  the  very  spirit  of  the  storm  itself. 
The  adventures  of  the  North  Pacific  Vikings  read  more 
like  some  old  legend  of  the  sea  than  sober  truth;  and 
the  wild  strain  had  its  fountain-head  in  the  most  tem- 
pestuous hero  and  beastlike  man  that  ever  ascended 
the  throne  of  the  Russias. 

When  Peter  the  Great  of  Russia  worked  as  a  ship's 
carpenter  at  the  docks  of  the  East  India  Company  in 
Amsterdam,  the  sailors'  tales  of  vast,  undiscovered 
lands  beyond  the  seas  of  Japan  must  have  acted  on  his 
imagination  like  a  match  to  gunpowder.1  Already  he 
was  dreaming  those  imperial  conquests  which  Russia 
still  dreams:  of  pushing  his  realm  to  the  southernmost 
edge  of  Europe,  to  the  easternmost  verge  of  Asia,  to 
the  doorway  of  the  Arctic,  to  the  very  threshold  of  the 

1  See  Life  of  Peter  the  Great,  by  Orlando  Williams,  1859;  Peter  the  Great,  by 
John  Lothrop  Motley,  1877;  Hittory  of  Peter  /,  by  John  Mottley,  1740;  Journal 
of  Peter  the  Great,  1698  ;  Voltaire'*  Pierre  le  Grand ;  Segur's  Histoire  de  Ruisit  et 
de  Pierre  le  Grand. 


VITUS    BERING,   THE    DANE  5 

Chinese  capital.  Already  his  Cossacks  had  scoured 
the  two  Siberias  like  birds  of  prey,  exacting  tribute 
from  the  wandering  tribes  of  Tartary,  of  Kamchatka, 
of  the  Pacific,  of  the  Siberian  races  in  the  north- 


Peter  the  Great. 

easternmost  corner  of  Asia.  And  these  Chukchee 
Indians  of  the  Asiatic  Pacific  told  the  Russians  of  a 
land  beyond  the  sea,  of  driftwood  floating  across  the 
ocean  unlike  any  trees  growing  in  Asia,  of  dead  whales 
washed  ashore  with  the  harpoons  of  strange  hunters, 


6  VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

and  —  most  comical  of  all  in  the  light  of  our  modern 
knowledge  about  the  Eskimo's  tail-shaped  fur  coats  - 
of  men  wrecked  on  the  shores  of  Asia  who  might  have 
qualified  for  Darwin's  missing  link,  inasmuch  as  they 
wore  "tails." 

And  now  the  sailors  added  yet  more  fabulous  things 
to  Peter's  knowledge.  There  was  an  unknown  conti- 
nent east  of  Asia,  west  of  America,  called  on  the  maps 
"Gamaland."  Now,  Peter's  consuming  ambition 
was  for  new  worlds  to  conquer.  What  of  this  "Gama- 
land"? But,  as  the  world  knows,  Peter  was  called 
home  to  suppress  an  insurrection.  War,  domestic 
broils,  massacres  that  left  a  bloody  stain  on  his  glory, 
busied  his  hands  for  the  remaining  years  of  his  life; 
and  January  of  1725  found  the  palaces  of  all  the  Russias 
hushed,  for  the  Hercules  who  had  scrunched  all  oppo- 
sition like  a  giant  lay  dying,  ashamed  to  consult  a 
physician,  vanquished  of  his  own  vices,  calling  on 
Heaven  for  pity  with  screams  of  pain  that  drove  physi- 
cians and  attendants  from  the  room. 

Perhaps  remorse  for  those  seven  thousand  wretches 
executed  at  one  fell  swoop  after  the  revolt;  perhaps 
memories  of  those  twenty  kneeling  supplicants  whose 
heads  he  had  struck  off  with  his  own  hand,  drinking  a 
bumper  of  quass  to  each  stroke;  perhaps  reproaches 

1  Who  this  man  Gama,  supposed  to  have  seen  the  unknown  continent  of  Gamaland, 
was,  no  one  knew.  The  Portuguese  followed  the  myth  blindly ;  and  the  other  geog- 
raphers followed  the  Portuguese.  Texeira,  court  geographer  in  Portugal,  in  1649  issued 
a  map  with  a  vague  coast  marked  at  latitude  45°  north,  with  the  words  "  Land  seen  by 
John  de  Gama,  Indian,  going  from  China  to  New  Spain." 


VITUS    BERING,  THE    DANE  7 

of  the  highway  robbers  whom  he  used  to  torture  to  slow 
death,  two  hundred  at  a  time,  by  suspending  them  from 
hooks  in  their  sides;  perhaps  the  first  wife,  whom  he 
repudiated,  the  first  son  whom  he  had  done  to  death 
either  by  poison  or  convulsions  of  fright,  came  to  haunt 
the  darkness  of  his  deathbed. 

Catherine,  the  peasant  girl,  elevated  to  be  empress 
of  all  the  Russias,  could  avail  nothing.  Physicians 
and  scientists  and  navigators,  Dane  and  English  and 
Dutch,  whom  he  had  brought  to  Russia  from  all  parts 
of  Europe,  were  powerless.  Vows  to  Heaven,  in  all 
the  long  hours  he  lay  convulsed  battling  with  Death, 
were  useless.  The  sins  of  a  lifetime  could  not  be  un- 
done by  the  repentance  of  an  hour.  Then,  as  if  the 
dauntless  Spirit  of  the  man  must  rise  finally  triumphant 
over  Flesh,  the  dying  Hercules  roused  himself  to  one 
last  supreme  effort. 

Radisson,  Marquette,  La  Salle,  Verendrye,  were 
reaching  across  America  to  win  the  undiscovered 
regions  of  the  Western  Sea  for  France.  New  Spain 
was  pushing  her  ships  northward  from  Mexico;  and 
now,  the  dying  Peter  of  Russia  with  his  own  hand 
wrote  instructions  for  an  expedition  to  search  the 
boundaries  between  Asia  and  America.  In  a  word, 
he  set  in  motion  that  forward  march  of  the  Rus- 
sians across  the  Orient,  which  was  to  go  on  unchecked 
for  two  hundred  years  till  arrested  by  the  Japanese. 
The  Czar's  instructions  were  always  laconic.  They 
were  written  five  weeks  before  his  death,  "(i)  At 


8  VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

Kamchatka  .  .  .  two  boats  are  to  be  built.  (2)  With 
these  you  are  to  sail  northward  along  the  coast. 
.  .  .  (3)  You  are  to  enquire  where  the  American 
coast  begins.  .  .  .  Write  it  down  .  .  .  obtain  reliable  in- 
formation .  .  .  then,  having  charted  the  coast,  return."  l 
From  the  time  that  Peter  the  Great  began  to  break 
down  the  Oriental  isolation  of  Russia  from  the  rest  of 
Europe,  it  was  his  policy  to  draw  to  St.  Petersburg  - 
the  city  of  his  own  creation  —  leaders  of  thought  from 
every  capital  in  Europe.  And  as  his  aim  was  to  estab- 
lish a  navy,  he  especially  endeavored  to  attract  foreign 
navigators  to  his  kingdom.  Among  these  were  many 
Norse  and  Danes.  The  acquaintance  may  have  dated 
from  the  apprenticeship  on  the  docks  of  the  East 
India  Company;  but  at  any  rate,  among  the  foreign 
navigators  was  one  Vitus  Ivanovich  Bering,  a  Dane  of 
humble  origin  from  Horsens,2  who  had  been  an  East 
India  Company  sailor  till  he  joined  the  Russian  fleet 
as  sub-lieutenant  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  and  fought 
his  way  up  in  the  Baltic  service  through  Peter's  wars 
till  in  1720  he  was  appointed  captain  of  second  rank. 
To  Vitus  Bering,  the  Dane,  Peter  gave  the  commission 
for  the  exploration  of  the  waters  between  Asia  and 
America.  As  a  sailor,  Bering  had,  of  course,  been  on 
the  borders  of  the  Pacific.3 

1  These  instructions  were  handed  to  Peter's  admiral  —  Count  Apraxin. 

3  Born  1 68 1,  son  of  Jonas  and  Anna  Bering,  whom  a  petition  describes,  in  1719, 
as  "old,  miserable,  decrepit  people,  no  way  able  to  help  ourselves." 

*  He  fought  in  Black  Sea  wars  of  1711  ;  and  from  lieutenant-captain  became 
captain  of  the  second  rank  by  1717,  when  Russians,  jealous  of  the  foreigner,  blocked 


VITUS    BERING,  THE    DANE  9 

The  scientists  of  every  city  in  FAirope  were  in  a  fret 
over  the  mythical  Straits  of  Anian,  supposed  to  be 
between  Asia  and  America,  and  over  the  yet  more 
mythical  Gamaland,  supposed  to  be  visible  on  the  way 
to  New  Spain.  To  all  this  jangling  of  words  without 
knowledge  Peter  paid  no  heed.  "You  will  go  and 
obtain  some  reliable  information,"  he  commands  Be- 
ring. Neither  did  he  pay  any  heed  to  the  fact  that  the 
ports  of  Kamchatka  on  the  Pacific  were  six  thousand 
miles  by  river  and  mountain  and  tundra  and  desert 
through  an  unknown  country  from  St.  Petersburg. 
It  would  take  from  three  to  five  years  to  transport 
material  across  two  continents  by  caravan  and  flatboat 
and  dog  sled.  Tribute  of  food  and  fur  would  be  re- 
quired from  Kurd  and  Tartar  and  wild  Siberian  tribe. 
More  than  a  thousand  horses  must  be  requisitioned 
for  the  caravans;  more  than  two  thousand  leathern 
sacks  made  for  the  flour.  Twenty  or  thirty  boats 
must  be  constructed  to  raft  down  the  inland  rivers. 
There  were  forests  to  be  traversed  for  hundreds  of 
miles,  where  only  the  keenest  vigilance  could  keep  the 
wolf  packs  off"  the  heels  of  the  travellers.  And  when 
the  expedition  should  reach  the  tundras  of  eastern 
Siberia,  there  was  the  double  danger  of  the  Chukchee 
tribes  on  the  north,  hostile  as  the  American  Indians, 
and  of  the  Siberian  exile  population  on  the  south, 
branded  criminals,  political  malcontents,  banditti  of 

his  promotion.      He  demanded  promotion  or  discharge  5   and  withdrew  to  Finland,  where 
the  Czar's  Kamchatkan  expedition  called  him  from  retirement. 


io  VIKINGS  OF  THE   PACIFIC 

the  wilderness,  outcasts  of  nameless  crimes  beyond 
the  pale  of  law.  It  needed  no  prophet  to  foresee 
such  people  would  thwart,  not  help,  the  expedition. 
And  when  the  shores  of  Okhotsk  were  reached,  a  fort 
must  be  built  to  winter  there.  And  a  vessel  for  inland 
seas  must  be  constructed  to  cross  to  the  Kamchatka 
peninsula  of  the  North  Pacific.  And  the  peninsula, 
which  sticks  out  from  Asia  as  Norway  projects  from 
Europe,  must  be  crossed  with  provisions  —  a  distance 
of  some  two  hundred  miles  by  dog  trains  over  moun- 
tains higher  than  the  American  Rockies.  And  once 
on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  itself,  another  fort  must 
be  built  on  the  east  side  of  the  Kamchatka  peninsula. 
And  the  two  double-decker  vessels  must  be  constructed 
to  voyage  over  the  sleepy  swell  of  the  North  Pacific  to 
that  mythical  realm  of  mist  like  a  blanket,  and  strange, 
unearthly  rumblings  smoking  up  from  the  cold  Arctic 
sea,  with  the  red  light  of  a  flame  through  the  gray  haze, 
and  weird  voices,  as  if  the  fog  wraith  were  luring  sea- 
men to  destruction.  These  were  mere  details.  Peter 
took  no  heed  of  impossibles.  Neither  did  Bering; 
for  he  was  in  the  prime  of  his  honor,  forty-four  years 
of  age.  "You  will  go,"  commanded  the  Czar,  and 
Bering  obeyed. 

Barely  had  the  spirit  of  Peter  the  Great  passed  from 
this  life,  in  1725,  when  Bering's  forces  were  travelling 
in  midwinter  from  St.  Petersburg  to  cross  Siberia  to 
the  Pacific,  on  what  is  known  as  the  First  Expedition.1 

1  The  expedition  left  St.  Petersburg  February  5th. 


V1TUS   BERING,  THE   DANE  n 

Three  years  it  took  him  to  go  from  the  west  coast  of 
Europe  to  the  east  coast  of  Asia,  crossing  from  Okhotsk 
to  Kamchatka,  whence  he  sailed  on  the  9th  of  July, 
1728,  with  forty-four  men  and  three  lieutenants  for 
the  Arctic  seas.1  This  voyage  is  unimportant,  except 
as  the  kernel  out  of  which  grew  the  most  famous 
expedition  on  the  Pacific  coast.  Martin  Spanberg, 
another  Danish  navigator,  huge  of  frame,  vehement, 
passionate,  tyrannical  but  dauntless,  always  followed 
by  a  giant  hound  ready  to  tear  any  one  who  approached 
to  pieces,  and  Alexei  ChirikofF,  an  able  Russian, 
were  seconds  in  command.  They  encountered  all  the 
difficulties  to  be  expected  transporting  ships,  rigging, 
and  provisions  across  two  continents.  Spanberg  and 
his  men,  winter-bound  in  East  Siberia,  were  reduced 
to  eating  their  dog  harness  and  shoe-straps  for  food 
before  they  came  to  the  trail  of  dead  horses  that 
marked  Bering's  path  to  the  sea,  and  guided  them 
to  the  fort  at  Okhotsk. 

Bering  did  exactly  as  Czar  Peter  had  ordered.  He 
built  the  two-deckers  at  Kamchatka.  Then  he  fol- 
lowed the  coast  northward  past  St.  Lawrence  Island, 
which  he  named,  to  a  point  where  the  shore  seemed  to 
turn  back  on  itself  northwestward  at  67°  18',  which 
proved  to  Bering  that  Asia  and  America  were  not 


1  The  midshipman  of  this  voyage  was  Peter  Chaplin,  whose  journal  was  deposited 
in  the  Naval  College  of  the  Admiralty,  St.  Petersburg.  Berg  gives  a  summary  of  th's 
journal.  A  translation  by  Dall  is  to  be  found  in  Appendix  79,  Coast  Survey,  Wash- 
ington, 1890. 


12         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

united.1  And  they  had  found  no  "Gamaland,"  no 
new  world  wedged  in  between  Asia  and  America. 
Twice  they  were  within  only  forty  miles  of  America, 
touching  at  St.  Lawrence  Island,  but  the  fog  hung  like 
a  blanket  over  the  sea  as  they  passed  through  the 
waters  now  known  as  Bering  Straits.  They  saw  no 
continent  eastward ;  and  Bering  was  compelled  to 
return  with  no  knowledge  but  that  Russia  did  n>,t 
extend  into  America.  And  yet,  there  were  definite 
signs  of  land  eastward  of  Kamchatka  —  driftwood, 
seaweed,  sea-birds.  Before  setting  out  for  St.  Peters- 
burg in  1729,  he  had  again  tried  to  sail  eastward  to  the 
Gamaland  of  the  maps,  but  again  foul  weather  had 
driven  him  back. 

It  was  the  old  story  of  the  savants  and  Christopher 
Columbus  in  an  earlier  day.  Bering's  conclusions 
were  different  from  the  moonshine  of  the  schools. 
There  was  no  "Gamaland"  in  the  sea.  There  was  in 
the  maps.  The  learned  men  of  St.  Petersburg  ridi- 
culed the  Danish  sailor.  The  fog  was  supposed  to 
have  concealed  "Gamaland."  There  was  nothing  for 
Bering  but  to  retire  in  ignominy  or  prove  his  conclu- 
sions. He  had  arrived  in  St.  Petersburg  in  March, 
1730.  He  had  induced  the  court  to  undertake  a 
second  expedition  by  April  of  the  same  year.2 

1  A  great  dispute  has  waged  among  the  finical  academists,  where  the  Serdze  Kamen 
of  this  trip  really  was ;  the  Russian  observations  varying  greatly  owing  to  fog  and  rude 
instruments.  Lauridtcn  quarrels  with  Mullcr  on  this  score.  Muller  was  one  of  the 
theorists  whose  wrong  headed  ness  misled  Bering. 

8  It  was  in  1 730  that  Gvozdcf 's  report  of  a  strange  land  between  65°  and  66°  became 
current.  Whether  this  land  was  America,  Gamaland,  or  Asia,  the  savants  could  not  know. 


VITUS   BERING,   THE    DANE          13 

And  for  this  second  expedition,  the  court,  the  senate, 
the  admiralty,  and  the  academy  of  sciences  decided 
to  provide  with  a  lavish  profusion  that  would  dazzle 
the  world  with  the  brilliancy  of  Russian  exploits. 
Russia  was  in  the  mood  to  do  things.  The  young 
savants  who  thronged  her  capital  were  heady  with 
visionary  theories  that  were  to  astonish  the  rest  of 
mortals.  Scientists,  artisans,  physicians,  monks, 
Cossacks,  historians,  made  up  the  motley  roll  of  con- 
flicting influences  under  Bering's  command;  but 
because  Bering  was  a  Dane,  this  command  was  not 
supreme.  He  must  convene  a  council  of  the  Russian 
officers  under  him,  submit  all  his  plans  to  their  vote, 
then  abide  by  their  decision.  Yet  he  alone  must 
carry  responsibility  for  blunders.  And  as  the  days 
went  on,  details  of  instructions  rolling  out  from  ad- 
miralty, senate,  and  academy  were  like  an  avalanche 
gathering  impetus  to  destruction  from  its  weight.  He 
was  to  establish  new  industries  in  Siberia.  He  was  to 
chart  the  whole  Arctic  coast  line  of  Asia.  He  was  to 
Christianize  the  natives.  He  was  to  provide  the  trav- 
elling academicians  with  luxurious  equipment,  though 
some  of  them  had  forty  wagon-loads  of  instruments 
and  carried  a  peripatetic  library. 

Early  in  1733,  the  Second  Expedition  set  out  from 
St.  Petersburg  in  detachments  to  cross  Siberia.  There 
were  Vitus  Bering,  the  commander,  ChirikofF  and 
Spanberg,  his  two  seconds,  eight  lieutenants,  sixteen 
mates,  twelve  physicians,  seven  priests,  carpenters, 


i4  VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

bakers,  Cossacks,  sailors,  —  in  all,  five  hundred  and 
eighty  men.1  Now,  if  it  was  difficult  to  transport 
a  handful  of  attendants  across  Siberia  for  the  first 
simple  voyage,  what  was  it  to  convoy  this  rabble 
composed  of  self-important  scientists  bent  on  proving 
impossible  theories,  of  underling  officers  each  of  whom 
considered  himself  a  czar,  of  wives  and  children  un- 
used to  such  travel,  of  priests  whose  piety  took  the 
extraordinary  form  of  knouting  subordinates  to  death, 
of  Cossacks  who  drank  and  gambled  and  brawled  at 
every  stopping  place  till  half  the  lieutenants  in  the 
company  had  crossed  swords  in  duels,  of  workmen 
who  looked  on  the  venture  as  a  mad  banishment, 
and  only  watched  for  a  chance  to  desert  ? 

Scouts  went  scurrying  ahead  with  orders  for  the 
Siberian  Cossacks  to  prepare  wintering  quarters  for 
the  on-coming  host,  and  to  levy  tribute  on  the  inhabit- 
ants for  provision;  but  in  Siberia,  as  the  Russians 
say,  "God  is  high  in  the  Heaven,  and  the  Czar  is 
far  away;"  and  the  Siberian  governors  raised  not  a 
finger  to  prepare  for  Bering. 

Spanberg  left  St.  Petersburg  in  February,  1733. 
Bering  followed  in  March;  and  all  summer  the  long 
caravans  of  slow-moving  pack  horses  —  as  many  as 
four  thousand  in  a  line  —  wound  across  the  desert 
wastes  of  West  Siberia. 


1  It  is  from  the  works  of  Gmelin,  Mailer,  and  Stel/er,  scientists  named  to  accom- 
pany the  expedition,  that  the  most  connected  accounts  are  obtained.  The  "  menagerie," 
some  one  has  called  this  collection  of  scientists 


VITUS   BERING,  THE   DANE          15 

Only  the  academists  dallied  in  St.  Petersburg,  kiss- 
ing Majesty's  hand  farewell,  basking  in  the  sudden 
sunburst  of  short  notoriety,  driving  Bering  almost 
mad  by  their  exorbitant  demands  for  luxuriously  ap- 
pointed barges  to  carry  them  down  the  Volga.  Winter 
was  passed  at  Tobolsk;  but  May  of  1734  witnessed 
a  firing  of  cannon,  a  blaring  of  trumpets,  a  clinking 
of  merry  glasses  among  merry  gentlemen ;  for  the  cara- 
vans were  setting  out  once  more  to  the  swearing  of  the 
Cossacks,  the  complaining  of  the  scientists,  the  brawl- 
ing of  the  underling  officers,  the  silent  chagrin  of  the 
endlessly  patient  Bering.  One  can  easily  believe  that 
the  God-speed  from  the  Siberians  was  sincere;  for  the 
local  governors  used  the  orders  for  tribute  to  enrich 

o 

themselves;  and  the  country-side  groaned  under  a 
heavy  burden  of  extortion.  The  second  winter  was 
passed  at  Yakutsk,  where  the  ships  that  were  to  chart 
the  Arctic  coast  of  Siberia  were  built  and  launched 
with  crews  of  some  hundred  men. 

It  was  the  end  of  June,  1735,  before  the  main  forces 
were  under  way  again  for  the  Pacific.  From  Yakutsk 
to  Okhotsk  on  the  Pacific,  the  course  was  down  the 
Lena,  up  the  Aldan  River,  up  the  Maya,  up  the  Yu- 
doma,  across  the  Stanovoi  Mountains,  down  the  Urak 
River  to  the  sea.  A  thousand  Siberian  exiles  were 
compelled  to  convoy  these  boats.1  Not  a  roof  had 
been  prepared  to  house  the  forces  in  the  mountains. 
Men  and  horses  were  torn  to  pieces  by  the  timber 

*  Many  of  the  workmen  died  of  their  hardships  at  this  stage  of  the  journey. 


16  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

wolves.  Often,  for  days  at  a  time,  the  only  rations 
were  carcasses  of  dead  horses,  roots,  flour,  and  rice. 
Winter  barracks  had  to  be  built  between  the  rivers,  for 
the  navigable  season  was  short.  In  May  the  rivers 
broke  up  in  spring  flood.  Then,  the  course  was 
against  a  boiling  torrent.  Thirty  men  could  not  tug 
a  boat  up  the  Yudoma.  They  stood  in  ice-water  up 
to  their  waists  lifting  the  barges  over  the  turbulent 
places.  Sores  broke  out  on  the  feet  of  horses  and 
men.  Three  years  it  took  to  transport  all  the  sup- 
plies and  ships'  rigging  from  the  Lena  to  the  Pacific, 
with  wintering  barracks  constructed  at  each  stopping 
place. 

At  Okhotsk  on  the  Pacific,  Major-General  Pissar- 
jefF  was  harbor  master.  This  old  reprobate,  once  a 
favorite  of  Peter  the  Great,  had  been  knouted,  branded 
and  exiled  for  conspiracy,  forbidden  even  to  conceal 
his  brand;  and  now,  he  let  loose  all  his  seventy  years 
of  bitterness  on  Bering.  He  not  only  had  not  made 
preparation  to  house  the  explorers;  but  he  refused  to 
permit  them  inside  the  stockades  of  the  miserable 
huts  at  Okhotsk,  which  he  called  his  fort.  When  they 
built  a  fort  of  their  own  outside,  he  set  himself  to 
tantalize  the  two  Danes,  Bering  and  Spanberg,  knout- 
ing  their  men,  sending  coureurs  with  false  accusations 
against  Bering  to  St.  Petersburg,  actually  counter- 
manding their  orders  for  supplies  from  the  Cossacks. 
Spanberg  would  have  finished  the  matter  neatly  with 
a  sharp  sword;  but  Bering  forbore,  and  Pissarjeflf 


VITUS    BERING,   THE   DANE          17 

was  ultimately  replaced  by  a  better  harbor  master. 
The  men  set  to  work  cutting  the  timber  for  the 
ships  that  were  to  cross  from  Okhotsk  to  the  east 
shore  of  Kamchatka;  for  Bering's  ships  of  the  first 
voyage  could  now  be  used  only  as  packet  boats. 

Not  till  the  fourth  of  June,  1741,  had  all  preparations 
ripened  for  the  fulfilment  of  Czar  Peter's  dying  wishes 
to  extend  his  empire  into  America.  Two  vessels,  the 
St.  Peter  and  the  St.  Paul,  rode  at  anchor  at  Petro- 
paulovsk  in  the  Bay  of  Avacha  on  the  east  coast  of 
Kamchatka.  On  the  shore  was  a  little  palisaded  fort 
of  some  fifty  huts,  a  barrack,  a  chapel,  a  powder  maga- 
zine. Early  that  morning,  solemn  religious  services 
had  been  held  to  invoke  the  blessing  of  Heaven  on  the 
voyagers.  Now,  the  chapel  bell  was  set  ringing. 
Monks  came  singing  down  to  the  water's  edge.  Can- 
non were  fired.  Cheer  on  cheer  set  the  echoes  rolling 
among  the  white  domed  mountains.  There  was  a 

o 

rattling   of  anchor   chains,    a   creaking   of  masts    and 

o  o 

yard-arms.  The  sails  fluttered  out  bellying  full;  and 
with  a  last,  long  shout,  the  ships  glided  out  before 
the  wind  to  the  lazy  swell  of  the  Pacific  for  the  dis- 
covery of  new  worlds. 

And  why  not  new  worlds  ?  That  was  the  question 
the  officers  accompanying  Bering  asked  themselves 
as  the  white  peaks  of  Kamchatka  faded  on  the  offing. 
Certainly,  in  the  history  of  the  world,  no  expedition 
had  set  out  with  greater  prestige.  Eight  years  had  it 


18  VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

taken  to  cross  Siberia  from  St.  Petersburg  to  the  Pa- 
cific. A  line  of  forts  across  two  continents  had  been 
built  for  winter  quarters.  Rivers  had  been  bridged; 
as  many  as  forty  boats  knocked  together  in  a  single 
year  to  raft  down  the  Siberian  torrents.  Two  hundred 
thousand  dollars  in  modern  money  had  been  spent 
before  the  Pacific  was  reached.  In  all,  nine  ships  had 
been  built  on  the  Pacific  to  freight  supplies  across 
from  Okhotsk  to  the  eastern  side  of  Kamchatka,  two 
to  carry  Bering  to  the  new  continent  of  "Gamaland" 
which  the  savants  persisted  in  putting  on  the  maps, 
three  to  explore  the  region  between  Russia  and  Japan. 
Now,  Bering  knew  there  was  no  "Gamaland"  except 
in  the  ignorant,  heady  imaginings  of  the  foolish 
geographers.  So  did  Alexei  ChirikofF,  the  Russian 
second  assistant.  So  did  Spanberg,  the  Dane,  third 
in  command,  who  had  coasted  the  Pacific  in  charting 
Japan. 

Roughly  speaking,  the  expedition  had  gradually 
focussed  to  three  points:  (i)  the  charting  of  the 
Arctic  coast;  (2)  the  exploration  of  Japan;  (3)  the 
finding  of  what  lay  between  Asia  and  America.  Some 
two  hundred  men,  of  whom  a  score  had  already  per- 
ished of  scurvy,  had  gone  down  the  Siberian  rivers  to 
the  Arctic  coast.  Spanberg,  the  Dane,  with  a  hundred 
others,  had  thoroughly  charted  Japan,  and  had  seen 
his  results  vetoed  by  the  authorities  at  St.  Petersburg 
because  there  was  no  Gamaland.  Bering,  himself, 
undertook  the  voyage  to  America.  All  the  month  of 


VITUS   BERING,  THE    DANE          19 

May,  council  after  council  had  been  held  at  Avacha 
Bay  to  determine  which  way  Bering's  two  ships  should 
sail.  By  the  vote  of  this  council,  Bering,  the  com- 
mander, was  compelled  to  abide;  and  the  mythical 
Gamaland  proved  his  evil  star. 

The  maps  of  the  D'Isles,  the  famous  geographers, 
contained  a  Gamaland;  and  Louis  la  Croyere  d'Isle, 
relative  of  the  great  map  maker,  who  had  knocked 
about  in  Canada  and  was  thought  to  be  an  authority 
on  American  matters,  was  to  accompany  Chirikoff, 
Bering's  first  lieutenant.  At  the  councils,  these  maps 
were  hauled  out.  It  was  a  matter  of  family  pride 
with  the  D'Isles  to  find  that  Gamaland.  Bering  and 
ChirikofF  may  have  cursed  all  scientists,  as  Cook,  the 
great  navigator,  cursed  savants  at  a  later  day;  but 
they  must  bow  to  the  decision  of  the  council;  and  the 
decision  was  to  sail  south-southeast  for  Gamaland. 
And  yet,  there  could  have  been  no  bitterness  in  Ber- 
ing's feelings ;  for  he  knew  that  the  truth  must  triumph. 
He  would  be  vindicated,  whatever  came;  and  the  spell 
of  the  North  was  upon  him  with  its  magic  beckon- 
ing on  —  on  —  on  to  the  unknown,  to  the  unexplored, 
to  the  undreamed.  All  that  the  discoveries  of  Colum- 
bus gave  to  the  world,  Bering's  voyage  might  give  to 
Russia;  for  he  did  not  know  that  the  La  Verendryes 
of  New  France  had  already  penetrated  west  as  far  as 
the  Rockies;  and  he  did  know  that  half  a  continent 
yet  lay  unexplored,  unclaimed,  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Pacific. 


20  VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 


Map  of  Course 

But  with  boats  that  carried  only  one  hundred  casks 
of  water,  and  provisions  for  but  five  months,  the  deci- 
sion to  sail  south-southeast  was  a  deplorable  waste  of 
precious  time.  It  would  lead  to  the  Spanish  posses- 
sions, not  to  the  unknown  North.  On  Bering's  boat, 
the  St.  Peter,  was  a  crew  of  seventy-seven,  Lieutenant 
Waxel,  second  in  command,  George  William  Steller, 
the  famous  scientist,  Bering's  friend,  on  board.  On 
the  St.  Paul,  under  the  stanch,  level-headed  Russian 
lieutenant,  Alexei  Chirikoff,  were  seventy-six  men, 
with  La  Croyere  d'Isle  as  astronomer.  Not  the  least 


VITUS    BERING,  THE    DANE 


21 


ilrwnthtr 


followed  by  Bering. 

complicating  feature  of  the  case  was  the  personnel  of 
the  crews.  For  the  most  part,  they  were  branded 
criminals  and  malcontents.  From  the  first  they  had 
regarded  the  Bering  expedition  with  horror.  They 
had  joined  it  under  compulsion  for  only  six  years; 
and  the  exploration  was  now  in  its  eleventh  year. 
Spanberg,  the  other  Dane,  with  his  brutal  tongue  and 
constant  recourse  to  the  knout,  who  had  gone  to  St. 
Petersburg  to  report  on  Japan,  they  cordially  hated. 
ChirikofF,  the  Russian,  was  a  universal  favorite,  and 
Bering,  the  supreme  commander,  was  loved  for  his 


22  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

kindness;  but  Bering's  commands  were  subject  to 
veto  by  the  Russian  underlings;  and  the  Russian 
underling  officers  kept  up  a  constant  brawl  of  duels 
and  gaming  and  drink.  No  wonder  the  bluff  Dane 
sailed  out  from  the  snow-rimmed  peaks  of  Avacha 
Bay  with  dark  forebodings.  He  had  carried  a  load  of 
petty  instructions  issued  by  ignoramus  savants  for 
eight  years.  He  had  borne  eight  years  of  nagging 
from  court  and  senate  and  academy.  He  had  been 
criticised  for  blunders  of  others'  making.  He  had 
been  set  to  accomplish  a  Herculean  task  with  tied 
hands.  He  had  been  threatened  with  fines  and  court 
martial  for  the  delay  caused  by  the  quarrels  of  his 
under  officers  to  whom  he  was  subject.  He  had  been 
deprived  of  salary  for  three  years  and  accused  of  pil- 
fering from  public  funds.  His  wife,  who  had  by  this 
time  returned  with  the  wives  of  the  other  officers  to 
Russia,  had  actually  been  searched  for  hidden  booty.1 
And  now,  after  toils  and  hardships  untold,  only  five 
months'  provisions  were  left  for  the  ships  sailing  from 
Kamchatka;  and  the  blockhead  underlings  were  com- 
pelling a  waste  of  those  provisions  by  sailing  in  the 
wrong  direction.  If  the  worst  came,  could  Bering 
hold  his  men  with  those  tied  hands  of  his  ? 

The  commander  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  sig- 
nalled ChirikofF,  the  Russian,  on  the  St.  Paul,  to  lead 
the  way.  They  must  find  out  there  was  no  Gamaland 

1  Berg  says  Bering's  two  sons,  Thomas  and  Unof,  were  also  with  him  in  Siberia. 


VITUS    BERING,  THE    DANE          23 

for  themselves,  those  obstinate  Russians !  The  long 
swell  of  the  Pacific  meets  them  as  they  sheer  out  from 
the  mountain-girt  harbor.  A  dip  of  the  sails  to  the 
swell  of  the  rising  wind,  and  the  snowy  heights  of 
Avacha  Bay  are  left  on  the  offing.  The  thunder  of 
the  surf  against  the  rocky  caves  of  Kamchatka  coast 
fades  fainter.  The  myriad  birds  become  fewer.  Stel- 
ler,  the  scientist,  leans  over  the  rail  to  listen  if  the 
huge  sperm  whale,  there,  "hums"  as  it  "blows." 
The  white  rollers  come  from  the  north,  rolling- 
rolling  down  to  the  tropics.  A  gray  thing  hangs  over 
the  northern  offing,  a  grayish  brown  thing  called 
"fog"  of  which  they  will  know  more  anon.  The 
grayish  brown  thing  means  storm;  and  the  "porps" 
tumbling,  floundering,  somerseting  round  the  ships  in 
circles,  mean  storm;  and  ChirikofF,  far  ahead  there, 
signals  back  doubtfully  to  know  if  they  shouldn't 
keep  together  to  avoid  being  lost  in  the  gathering  fog. 
The  Dane  shrugs  his  shoulders  and  looks  to  the  north, 
The  grayish  brown  thing  has  darkened,  thickened, 
spread  out  impalpably,  and  by  the  third  day,  a  north- 
ling  wind  is  whistling  through  the  riggings  with  a  rip. 
Sails  are  furled.  The  white  rollers  roll  no  longer. 
They  lash  with  chopped-off  tops  flying  backward; 
and  the  St.  Peter  is  churning  about,  shipping  sea  after 
sea  with  the  crash  of  thunder.  That  was  what  the 
fog  meant;  and  it  is  all  about  them,  in  a  hurricane 
now,  stinging  cold,  thick  to  the  touch,  washing  out 
every  outline  but  sea  —  sea! 


24  VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

Never  mind !  They  are  nine  days  out.  It  is  the 
twelfth  of  June.  They  are  down  to  46°  and  no  Gama- 
land !  The  blockheads  have  stopped  spreading  their 
maps  in  the  captain's  cabin.  One  can  see  a  smile 
wreathing  in  the  whiskers  of  the  Dane.  Six  hundred 
miles  south  of  Kamchatka  and  no  Gamaland  !  The 
council  convenes  again.  It  is  decided  to  turn  about, 
head  north,  and  say  no  more  of  Gamaland.  But  when 
the  fog,  that  has  turned  hurricane,  lifts,  the  consort 
ship,  the  St.  Paul,  is  lost.  ChirikofFs  vessel  has  dis- 
appeared. Up  to  49°,  they  go;  but  still  no  Chirikoff, 
and  no  Gamaland !  Then  the  blunder-makers,  as 
usual,  blunder  more.  It  is  dangerous  to  go  on  without 
the  sister  ship.  The  council  convenes.  Bering  must 
hark  back  to  46°  and  hunt  for  ChirikofF.  So  passes 
the  whole  month  of  June.  Out  of  five  months'  pro- 
visions, one  wasted,  the  odium  on  Bering,  the  Dane. 

It  was  noticed  that  after  the  ship  turned  south,  the 
commander  looked  ill  and  depressed.  He  became  in- 
tolerant of  opposition  or  approach.  Possibly  to  avoid 
irritation,  he  kept  to  his  cabin;  but  he  issued  per- 
emptory orders  for  the  St.  Peter  to  head  back  north. 

In  a  few  days,  Bering  was  confined  to  bed  with 
that  overwhelming  physical  depression  and  fear,  that 
precede  the  scourge  most  dreaded  by  seamen  —  scurvy. 
Lieutenant  Waxel  now  took  command.  Waxel  had 
all  a  sailor's  contempt  for  the  bookful  blockheads,  who 
wrench  fact  to  fit  theory;  and  deadly  enmity  arose 


VITUS   BERING,  THE   DANE  25 

between  him  and  Steller,  the  scientist.  By  the  middle 
of  July,  the  fetid  drinking  water  was  so  reduced 
that  the  crew  was  put  on  half  allowance;  but  on 
the  sleepy,  fog-blanketed  swell  of  the  Pacific  slipping 
past  Bering's  wearied  eyes,  there  were  so  many  signs 
of  land  —  birds,  driftwood,  seaweed  —  that  the  com- 
mander ordered  the  ship  hove  to  each  night  for  fear 
of  grounding. 

On  the  thirteenth  of  July,  the  council  of  underlings 
had  so  far  relinquished  all  idea  of  a  Gamaland,  that 
it  was  decided  to  steer  continuously  north.  Some- 
time between  the  i6th  and  2Oth,  the  fog  lifted  like  a 
curtain.  Such  a  vision  met  the  gaze  of  the  stolid  sea- 
men as  stirred  the  blood  of  those  phlegmatic  Russians. 
It  was  the  consummation  of  all  their  labor,  what  they 
had  toiled  across  Siberia  to  see,  what  they  had  hoped 
against  hope  in  spite  of  the  learned  jargon  of  the 
geographers.  There  loomed  above  the  far  horizon  of 
the  north  sea  what  might  have  been  an  immense  opal 
dome  suspended  in  mid-heaven.  One  can  guess  how 
the  lookout  strained  keen  eyes  at  this  grand,  crumpled 
apex  of  snow  jagged  through  the  clouds  like  the  ce- 
lestial tent  peak  of  some  giant  race;  how  the  shout  of 
"land"  went  up,  how  officers  and  underlings  flocked 
round  Bering  with  cries  and  congratulations.  "We 
knew  it  was  land  beyond  a  doubt  on  the  sixteenth," 
says  Steller.  "Though  I  have  been  in  Kamchatka,  I 
have  never  seen  more  lofty  mountains."  The  shore 
was  broken  everywhere,  showing  inlets  and  harbors. 


26  VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

Everybody  congratulated  the  commander,  but  he  only 
shrugged  shoulders,  saying:  "We  think  we've  done  big 
things,  eh  ?  but  who  knows  ?  Nobody  realizes  where 
this  is,  or  the  distance  we  must  sail  back.  Winds 
may  be  contrary.  We  don't  know  this  land;  and  we 
haven't  provisions  to  winter." 

The  truth  is  —  the  maps  having  failed,  Bering  was 
good  enough  seaman  to  know  these  uncharted  signs 
of  a  continent  indicated  that  the  St.  Peter  was  hope- 
lessly lost.  Sixteen  years  of  nagging  care,  harder 
to  face  than  a  line  of  cannon,  had  sucked  Bering's 
capacity  of  resistance  like  a  vampire.  That  buoyancy, 
which  lifts  man  above  Anxious  Fright,  had  been  sapped. 
The  shadowy  elemental  powers  —  physical  weakness, 
disease,  despair  —  were  closing  round  the  explorer  like 
the  waves  of  an  eternal  sea. 

The  boat  found  itself  in  a  wonder  world,  that  beg- 
gared romance.  The  great  peak,  which  they  named 
St.  Elias,  hung  above  a  snowy  row  of  lesser  ridges  in  a 
dome  of  alabaster.  Icebergs,  like  floating  palaces, 
came  washing  down  from  the  long  line  of  precipitous 
shore.  As  they  neared  anchorage  at  an  island  now 
known  as  Kyak,  they  could  see  billows  of  ferns,  grasses, 
lady's  slippers,  rhododendrons,  bluebells,  forget-me- 
nots,  rippling  in  the  wind.  Perhaps  they  saw  those 
palisades  of  ice,  that  stretch  like  a  rampart  northward 
along  the  main  shore  west  of  St.  Elias. 

The  St.  Peter  moved  slowly  landward  against  a 
head  wind.  KhitrofF  and  Steller  put  off  in  the  small 


VITUS   BERING,  THE   DANE          27 

boats  with  fifteen  men  to  reconnoitre.  Both  found 
traces  of  inhabitants  —  timbered  huts,  fire  holes,  shells, 
smoked  fish,  footprints  in  the  grass.  Steller  left 
some  kettles,  knives,  glass  beads,  and  trinkets  in  the 
huts  to  replace  the  possessions  of  the  natives,  which 
the  Russians  took.  Many  years  later,  another  voyager 
met  an  old  Indian,  who  told  of  seeing  Bering's  ship 
anchor  at  Kyak  Island  when  he  was  a  boy;  but  the 
terrified  Indians  had  fled,  only  returning  to  find  the 
presents  in  the  huts,  when  the  Russians  had  gone.1 
Steller  was  as  wild  as  a  child  out  of  school,  and  ac- 
companied by  only  one  Cossack  went  bounding  over 
the  island  collecting  specimens  and  botanizing.  Khit- 
roff,  meanwhile,  filled  water-casks;  but  on  July  21, 
the  day  after  the  anchorage,  a  storm-wind  began 
whistling  through  the  rigging.  The  rollers  came  wash- 
ing down  from  the  ice  wall  of  the  coast  and  the  far 
offing  showed  the  dirty  fog  that  portended  storm. 
Only  half  the  water-casks  had  been  filled;  but  there 
was  a  brisk  seaward  breeze.  Without  warning,  con- 
trary to  his  custom  of  consulting  the  other  officers, 
Bering  appeared  on  deck  pallid  and  ashen  from  dis- 
ease, and  peremptorily  ordered  anchors  up. 

In  vain  Steller  stormed  and  swore,  accusing  the 
chief  of  pusillanimous  homesickness,  "of  reducing  his 
explorations  to  a  six  hours'  anchorage  on  an  island 
shore,"  "of  coming  from  Asia  to  carry  home  American 
water."  The  commander  had  had  enough  of  vacil- 

1  Sauer  relates  this  incident. 


28  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

lation,  delay,  interference.  One-third  of  the  crew  was 
ailing.  Provisions  for  only  three  months  were  in  the 
hold.  The  ship  was  off  any  known  course  more  than 
two  thousand  miles  from  any  known  port;  and  con- 
trary winds  might  cause  delay  or  drive  the  vessel  on 
the  countless  reefs  that  lined  this  strange  coast,  like 
a  ploughed  field. 

Dense  clouds  and  a  sleety  rain  settled  over  the  sea, 
washing  out  every  outline,  as  the  St.  Peter  began  her 
westward  course.  But  what  baffled  both  Bering  and 
the  officers  was  the  fact  that  the  coast  trended,  not 
north,  but  south.  They  were  coasting  that  long 
peninsula  of  Alaska  that  projects  an  arm  for  a  thou- 
sand miles  southwestward  into  the  Pacific. 

The  roar  of  the  rollers  came  from  the  reefs.  Through 
the  blanketing  fog  they  could  discern,  on  the  north, 
island  after  island,  ghostlike  through  the  mist,  rocky, 
towering,  majestic,  with  a  thunder  of  surf  among  the 
caves,  a  dim  outline  of  mountains  above,  like  Loki, 
Spirit  of  Evil,  smiling  stonily  at  the  dark  forces  closing 
round  these  puny  men.  All  along  Kadiak,  the  roily 
waters  told  of  reefs.  The  air  was  heavy  with  fogs 
thick  to  the  touch;  and  violent  winds  constantly 
threatened  a  sudden  shift  that  might  drive  the  vessel 
on  the  rocks.  At  midnight  on  August  i,they  suddenly 
found  themselves  with  only  three  feet  of  water  below 
the  keel.  Fortunately  there  was  no  wind,  but  the  fog 
was  like  ink.  By  swinging  into  a  current,  that  ran  a 
mill-race,  they  were  carried  out  to  eighteen  fathoms 


V1TUS    BERING,  THE  DANE  29 

of  water,  where  they  anchored  till  daybreak.  They 
called  this  place  Foggy  Island.  To-day  it  is  known  as 
Ukamok. 

The   underlings   now  came   sharply  to  their  senses 
and,  at  the  repeatedly  convened  and  distracted  councils 


The  St.  Peter  and  5?.  Paul,  from  a  rough  sketch  by  Bering's  comrade, 
Steller,  the  scientist. 

between  July  25  and  August  10,  decided  that  there  was 
only  one  thing  to  do  —  sail  at  once  for  the  home  port 
of  Kamchatka.  The  St.  Peter  was  tossing  about  in 
frightful  winds  among  reefs  and  hurricane  fog  like  a 
cork.  Half  the  crew  lay  ill  and  helpless  of  scurvy, 


30  VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

and  only  two  months'  provisions  remained  for  a  voyage 
of  two  thousand  miles.  The  whole  crew  signed  the 
resolution  to  go  home. 

Only  twenty-five  casks  of  water  remained.  On 
August  30  the  St.  Peter  anchored  off  a  group  of  thirteen 
bald,  bare,  treeless  rocks.  It  was  thought  that  if  some 
of  the  scurvy-stricken  sailors  could  be  carried  ashore, 
they  might  recover.  One,  Shumagin,  died  as  he  was 
lifted  ashore.  This  was  the  first  death,  and  his  name 
was  given  to  the  islands.  Bering  himself  was  so  ill 
he  could  not  stand.  Twenty  emaciated  men  were  laid 
along  the  shore.  Steller  hurried  off  to  hunt  anti- 
scorbutic plants,  while  Waxel,  who  had  taken  command, 
and  Khitroff  ordered  the  water-casks  filled.  Unfortu- 
nately the  only  pool  they  could  find  was  connected 
with  an  arm  of  the  sea.  The  water  was  brackish, 
and  this  afterward  increased  disease. 

A  fatality  seemed  to  hang  over  the  wonder  world 
where  they  wandered.  Voices  were  heard  in  the 
storm,  rumblings  from  the  sea.  Fire  could  be  seen 
through  the  fog.  Was  this  fire  from  volcanoes  or 
Indians  ?  And  such  a  tide-rip  thundered  along  the 
rocks  as  shook  the  earth  and  set  the  ship  trembling. 
Waxel  knew  they  must  not  risk  delay  by  going  to 
explore,  but  by  applying  to  Bering,  who  lay  in  his 
berth  unconscious  of  the  dangers  on  this  coast,  Khit- 
roff  gained  permission  to  go  from  the  vessel  on  a  yawl 
with  five  sailors;  but  by  the  time  he  had  rowed  against 
head  winds  to  the  scene  of  the  fire,  the  Indians  had 


VITUS    BERING,  THE    DANE  31 

fled,  and  such  beach  combers  were  crashing  ashore, 
KhitrofF  dare  not  risk  going  back  to  the  ship.  In  vain 
Waxel  ground  his  teeth  with  rage,  signalled,  and 
waited.  "The  wind  seemed  to  issue  from  a  flue," 
says  Steller,  "with  such  a  whistling  and  roaring  and 
rumbling  that  we  expected  to  lose  mast  and  rudder, 
or  be  crushed  among  the  breakers.  The  dashings  of 
the  sea  sounded  like  a  cannon." 

The  fact  was,  KhitrofFs  yawl  had  been  smashed  to 
kindling  wood  against  the  rocks;  and  the  six  half- 
drowned  Russians  were  huddling  together  waiting 
for  help  when  Waxel  took  the  other  small  boat  and 
went  to  the  rescue.  Barely  had  this  been  effected  at 
the  cost  of  four  days'  delay,  in  which  the  ship  might 
have  made  five  hundred  miles  toward  home,  when 
natives  were  seen  paddling  out  in  canoes,  gesticulating 
for  the  white  men  to  come  ashore.  Waxel  lowered 
away  in  the  small  boat  with  nine  armed  men  to  pay 
the  savages  a  visit.  Close  ashore,  he  beckoned  the 
Indians  to  wade  out;  but  they  signalled  him  in  turn 
to  land,  and  he  ordered  three  men  out  to  moor  the  boat 
to  a  rock.  All  went  well  between  Russians  and  Ind- 
ians, presents  being  exchanged,  till  a  chief  screwed 
up  his  courage  to  paddle  out  to  Waxel  in  the  boat. 
With  characteristic  hospitality,  Waxel  at  once  prof- 
fered some  Russian  brandy,  which,  by  courtesy  among 
all  Western  sailors,  is  always  known  as  "chain  light- 
ning." The  chief  took  but  one  gulp  of  the  liquid 
fire,  when  with  a  wild  yell  he  spat  it  out,  shouted  that 
he  had  been  poisoned,  and  dashed  ashore. 


32  VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

The  three  Russians  succeeded  in  gaining  Waxel's 
boat,  but  the  Indians  grabbed  the  mooring  ropes 
and  seized  the  Chukchee  interpreter,  whom  Waxel 
had  brought  from  Siberia.  Waxel  ordered  the  rope 
cut,  but  the  Chukchee  interpreter  called  out  pitifully 
to  be  saved.  Quick  as  flash,  the  Russians  fired  two 
muskets  in  midair.  At  the  crash  that  echoed  among 
the  cliffs,  the  Indians  fell  prostrate  with  fear,  and  the 
interpreter  escaped;  but  six  days  had  been  wasted 
in  this  futile  visit  to  the  natives. 

Scarcely  had  they  escaped  this  island,  when  such  a 
hurricane  broke  over  the  St.  Peter  for  seventeen  days 
that  the  ship  could  only  scud  under  bare  poles  before 
a  tornado  wind  that  seemed  to  be  driving  north-north- 
west. The  ship  was  a  chip  in  a  maelstrom.  There 
were  only  fifteen  casks  of  water  fit  to  drink.  All 
food  was  exhausted  but  mouldy  sea-biscuits.  One 
sailor  a  day  was  now  dying  of  scurvy,  and  those  left 
were  so  weak  that  they  had  no  power  to  man  the  ship. 
The  sailors  were  so  emaciated  they  had  to  be  carried 
back  and  forward  to  the  rudder,  and  the  underling 
officers  were  quarrelling  among  themselves.  The 
crew  dared  not  hoist  sails,  because  not  a  man  of  the 
St.  Peter  had  the  physical  strength  to  climb  and  lower 
canvas.1 

1  See  Miiller,  p.  93,  1764  edition:  "The  men,  notwithstanding  want,  misery, 
sickness,  were  obliged  to  work  continually  in  the  cold  and  wet ;  and  the  sickness  was  so 
dreadful  that  the  sailors  who  governed  the  rudder  were  obliged  to  be  led  to  it  by  others, 
who  could  hardly  walk.  They  durst  not  carry  much  sail,  because  there  was  nobody  to 
lower  them  in  case  of  need,  and  they  were  so  thin  a  violent  wind  would  have  torn  them 
to  pieces.  The  rain  now  changed  to  hail  and  snow." 


VITUS    BERING,  THE    DANE          33 

The  rain  turned  to  sleet.  The  sleet  froze  to  the 
rotting  sails,  to  the  ice-logged  hull,  to  the  wan  yard- 
arms  frost-white  like  ghosts.  At  every  lurch  of  the  sea 
slush  slithered  down  from  the  rigging  on  the  shivering 
seamen.  The  roar  of  the  breakers  told  of  a  shallow 
sea,  yet  mist  veiled  the  sky,  and  they  were  above  waters 
whose  shallows  drop  to  sudden  abysmal  depths  of 
three  thousand  fathoms.  Sheets  of  smoking  vapor 
rose  from  the  sea,  sheets  of  flame-tinged  smoke  from 
the  crevasses  of  land  volcanoes  which  the  fogs  hid. 
Out  of  the  sea  came  the  hoarse,  strident  cry  of  the  sea- 
lion,  and  the  walrus,  and  the  hairy  seal.  It  was  as  if 
the  poor  Russians  had  sailed  into  some  under-world. 
The  decks  were  slippery  as  glass,  the  vessel  shrouded 
in  ice.  Over  all  settled  that  unspeakable  dread  of 
impending  disaster,  which  is  a  symptom  of  scurvy, 
and  saps  the  fight  that  makes  a  man  fit  to  survive. 

Waxel,  alone,  held  the  vessel  up  to  the  wind.  Where 
were  they  ?  Why  did  this  coasting  along  unknown 
northern  islands  not  lead  to  Kamchatka  ? 

The  councils  were  no  longer  the  orderly  conferences 
of  savants  over  cut-and-dried  maps.  They  were  bed- 
lam. Panic  was  in  the  marrow  of  every  man,  even  the 
passionate  Steller,  who  thought  all  the  while  they  were 
on  the  coast  of  Kamchatka  and  made  loud  complaint 
that  the  expedition  had  been  misled  by  "unscrupu- 
lous leaders." 

At  eight  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  October  30  it 
was  seen  that  the  ice-clogged  ropes  on  the  starboard 


34  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

side  had  been  snapped  by  the  wind  like  dry  sticks. 
Offerings,  vows,  prayers  went  up  from  the  stricken 
crew.  Piety  became  a  very  real  thing.  The  men 
prayed  aloud  and  conferred  on  ways  to  win  the  favor 
of  God.  The  colder  weather  brought  one  relief.  The 
fog  lifted  and  the  air  was  clear.  The  wind  veered 
northeast,  and  on  November  4,  to  their  inexpressible 
joy,  a  dim  outline  sharpened  to  hard,  clear  horizon; 
and  the  gazing  crew  gradually  saw  a  high,  mountainous 
coast  become  clear  beyond  doubt  directly  ahead  six- 
teen miles.  Surely,  this  was  Kamchatka  ?  Surely, 
God  had  heard  their  vows  ?  The  sick  crawled  on 
hands  and  knees  above  the  hatchway  to  see  land  once 
more,  and  with  streaming  eyes  thanked  Heaven  for 
the  escape  from  doom.  Grief  became  joy;  gruff, 
happy,  hilarious  laughter;  for  a  few  hidden  casks  of 
brandy  were  brought  out  to  celebrate  the  end  of  their 
miseries,  and  each  man  began  pointing  out  certain 
headlands  that  he  thought  he  recognized.  But  this 
ecstasy  was  fool  joy  born  of  desperation.  As  the  ship 
rounded  northeastward,  a  strangeness  came  over  the 
scene;  a  chill  over  the  good  cheer  —  a  numbing, 
silent,  unspeakable  dread  over  the  crew.  These  tur- 
bulent waters  running  a  mill-race  between  reefs  looked 
more  like  a  channel  between  two  islands  than  open 
coast.  The  men  could  not  utter  a  word.  They  hoped 
against  hope.  They  dare  not  voice  their  fears.  That 
night,  the  St.  Peter  stood  off  from  land  in  case  of  storm. 
Topsails  were  furled,  and  the  wind  had  ripped  the  other 


VITUS    BERING,  THE    DANE  35 

sails  to  tatters,  that  flared  and  beat  dismally  all  night 
against  the  cordage.  One  can  imagine  the  anxiety  of 
that  long  night  with  the  roar  of  the  breakers  echoing 
angrily  from  shore,  the  whistle  of  the  wind  through  the 
rotten  rigging,  the  creaking  of  the  timbers  to  the  crash 
and  growl  and  rebound  of  the  tide.  Clear,  refulgent 
with  sunshine  like  the  light  of  creation's  first  day,  the 
sting  of  ozone  in  the  air,  and  the  freshness  of  a  scene 
never  before  witnessed  by  human  eyes  —  dawned  the 
morning  of  November  5. 

The  shore  was  of  black,  adamant  rock  rising  sheer 
from  the  sea  in  a  rampart  wall.  Reefs,  serried,  rank 
on  rankj  like  sentinels,  guarded  approach  to  the  coast 
in  jagged  masses,  that  would  rip  the  bottom  from  any 
keel  like  the  teeth  of  a  saw;  and  over  these  rolled  the 
roaring  breakers  with  a  clutch  to  the  back-wash  that 
bade  the  gazing  sailors  beware.  Birds,  birds  in  myriads 
upon  myriads,  screamed  and  circled  over  the  eerie 
heights  of  the  beetling  cliffs.  This  did  not  look  like 
Kamchatka.  These  birds  were  not  birds  of  the 
Asiatic  home  port.  These  cliffs  were  not  like  the  snow- 
rimmed  mountains  of  Avacha  Bay. 

Waxel  called  a  council. 

Officers  and  men  dragged  themselves  to  Bering's 
cabin.  Waxel  had  already  canvassed  all  hands  to 
vote  for  a  landing  to  winter  on  these  shores.  This, 
the  dying  Bering  opposed  with  all  his  might.  "We 
must  be  almost  home,"  he  said.  "We  still  have  six 
casks  of  water,  and  the  foremast.  Having  risked  so 


36  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

much,  let  us  risk  three  days  more,  let  us  risk  every- 
thing to  reach  Avacha  Bay."  Poor  Bering !  Had  his 
advice  been  followed,  the  saddest  disaster  of  northern 
seas  might  have  been  averted;  for  they  were  less  than 
ten  days'  run  from  the  home  harbor;  but  inspired  by 
fool  hopes  born  of  fear,  like  the  old  marsh  lights  that 
used  to  lure  men  to  the  quicksands  —  Waxel  and 
Khitroff  actually  persuaded  themselves  this  was  Kam- 
chatka, and  when  one  lieutenant,  Ofzyn,  who  knew  the 
north  well  from  charting  the  Arctic  coast,  would  have 
spoken  in  favor  of  Bering's  view,  he  was  actually  clubbed 
and  thrown  from  the  cabin.  The  crew  voted  as  a  man 
to  land  and  winter  on  this  coast.  Little  did  they  know 
that  vote  was  their  own  death  warrant. 


CHAPTER    II 


CONTINUATION    OF   BERING,  THE    DANE 

Frightful  Sufferings  of  the  Castaways  on  the  Commander  Islands  — 
The  Vessel  smashed  in  a  Winter  Gale,  the  Sick  are  dragged  for 
Refuge  into  Pits  of  Sand  —  Here,  Bering  perishes,  and  the  Crew 
Winter  —  The  Consort  Ship  under  Chirikoff  Ambushed  —  How 
the  Castaways  reach  Home 

WITHOUT  pilot  or  captain,  the  St.  Peter  drifted  to 
the  swirling  current  of  the  sea  along  a  high,  rocky, 
forbidding  coast  where  beetling  precipices  towered 
sheer  two  thousand  feet  above  a  white  fret  of  reefs, 
that  gave  the  ocean  the  appearance  of  a  ploughed  field. 
The  sick  crawled  mutely  back  to  their  berths.  Bering 
was  past  caring  what  came  and  only  semiconscious. 
Waxel,  who  had  compelled  the  crew  to  vote  for  land- 
ing here  under  the  impression  born  of  his  own  despair, 

-  that  this  was  the  coast  of  Avacha  Bay,  Kamchatka, 

-  saw  with  dismay  in  the  shores  gliding  past  the  keel 
momentary  proofs  that  he  was  wrong.     Poor    Waxel 
had    fought    desperately    against    the    depression    that 
precedes  scurvy;    but  now,  with  a  dumb  hopelessness 
settling  over  the  ship,  the  invisible  hand  of  the  scourge 

37 


38  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

was  laid  on  him,  too.  He  went  below  decks  completely 
fordone. 

The  underling  officers  still  upon  their  feet,  whose 
false  theories  had  led  Bering  into  all  this  disaster, 
were  now  quarrelling  furiously  among  themselves, 
blaming  one  another.  Only  Ofzyn,  the  lieutenant, 
who  had  opposed  the  landing,  and  Steller,  the  scientist, 
remained  on  the  lookout  with  eyes  alert  for  the  impend- 
ing destruction  threatened  from  the  white  fret  of  the 
endless  reefs.  Rocks  rose  in  wild,  jagged  masses  out 
of  the  sea.  Deep  V-shaped  ravines,  shadowy  in  the 
rising  moonlight,  seemed  to  recede  into  the  rock  wall 
of  the  coast,  and  only  where  a  river  poured  out  from 
one  of  these  ravines  did  there  appear  to  be  any  gap 
through  the  long  lines  of  reefs  where  the  surf  boomed 
like  thunder.  The  coast  seemed  to  trend  from  north- 
west to  southeast,  and  might  have  been  from  thirty  to 
fifty  miles  long,  with  strange  bizarre  arches  of  rock 
overhanging  endless  fields  of  kelp  and  seaweed.  The 
land  was  absolutely  treeless  except  for  willow  brush- 
wood the  size  of  one's  finger.  Lichens,  moss,  sphagnum, 
coated  the  rocks.  Inland  appeared  nothing  but  bil- 
lowing reaches  of  sedges  and  shingle  and  grass. 

Suddenly  Steller  noticed  that  the  ebb-tide  was  causing 
huge  combing  rollers  that  might  dash  the  ship  against 
the  rocks.  Rushing  below  decks  he  besought  Bering's 
permission  to  sound  and  anchor.  The  early  darkness 
of  those  northern  latitudes  had  been  followed  by  moon- 
light bright  as  day.  Within  a  mile  of  the  east  shore, 


CONTINUATION    OF    BERING 


39 


Steller  ordered  the  anchor  dropped,  but  by  this  time, 
the  rollers  were  smashing  over  decks  with  a  quaking 
that  seemed  to  tear  the  ship  asunder.  The  sick  were 
hurled  from  their  berths.  Officers  rushed  on  deck  to 
be  swept  from  their  feet  by  blasts  of  salt  spray,  and  just 


Steller's  Arch  on  Bering  Island,  named  after  the  scientist  Steller, 
of  Bering's  Expedition. 

ahead,  through  the  moonlight,  could  be  seen  the  sharp 
edge  of  a  long  reef  where  the  beach  combers  ran  with 
the  tide-rip  of  a  whirlpool.  There  is  something  in- 
expressibly terrifying  even  from  a  point  of  safety  in 
these  beach  combers,  clutching  their  long  arms  hun- 
grily for  prey.  The  confusion  of  orders  and  counter- 


40  VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

orders,  which  no  man  had  strength  to  carry  out,  of 
terrified  cries  and  prayers  and  oaths  —  was  indescrib- 
able. The  numb  hopelessness  was  succeeded  by  sheer 
panic  terror.  Ofzyn  threw  out  a  second  anchor  that 
raked  bottom.  Then,  another  mountain  roller  thun- 
dering over  the  ship  with  a  crash  —  and  the  first  cable 
snapped  like  a  pistol  shot.  The  ship  rebounded; 
then  drove  before  the  back-wash  of  the  angry  sea. 
With  no  fate  possible  but  the  wall  of  rocks  ahead,  the 
terrorized  crew  began  heaving  the  dead  overboard  in 
the  moonlight;  but  another  roaring  billow  smashed 
the  St.  Peter  squarely  broadside.  The  second  hawser 
ripped  back  with  the  whistling  rebound  of  a  whip-lash, 
and  Ofzyn  was  in  the  very  act  of  dropping  the  third 
and  last  anchor,  when  straight  as  a  bullet  to  the  mark, 
as  if  hag-ridden  by  the  northern  demons  of  sailor  fear, 
hurled  the  St.  Peter  for  the  reef!  A  third  time  the 
beach  combers  crashed  down  like  a  falling  mountain. 
When  the  booming  sheets  of  blinding  spray  had  cleared 
and  the  panic-stricken  sailors  could  again  see,  the  St. 
Peter  was  staggering  stern  foremost,  shore  ahead,  like 
a  drunken  ship.  Quick  as  shot,  Ofzyn  and  Steller 
between  them  heaved  over  the  last  anchor.  The 
flukes  gripped  —  raked  —  then  caught  —  and  held. 

The  ship  lay  rocking  inside  a  reef  in  the  very  centre 
of  a  sheltered  cove  not  six  hundred  yards  from  land. 
The  beach  comber  had  either  swept  her  through  a  gap 
in  the  reef,  or  hurled  her  clear  above  the  reefs  into 
shelter. 


CONTINUATION    OF    BERING          41 

For  seven  hours  the  ship  had  battled  against  tide 
and  counter-current.  Now,  at  midnight,  with  the  air 
clear  as  day,  Steller  had  the  small  boat  lowered  and  with 
another  —  some  say  Waxel,  others  Pleneser,  the  artist, 
or  Ofzyn,  of  the  Arctic  expedition  —  rowed  ashore  to 
reconnoitre.  Sometime  between  the  evening  of  No- 
vember 5  and  the  morning  of  November  6,  their  eyes 
met  such  a  view  as  might  have  been  witnessed  by  an 
Alexander  Selkirk,  or  Robinson  Crusoe.  The  exact 
landing  was  four  or  five  miles  north  of  what  is  now 
known  as  Cape  Khitroff,  below  the  centre  of  the  east 
coast  of  Bering  Island.1  Poor  Waxel  would  have  it, 
they  were  on  the  coast  of  Kamchatka,  and  spoke  of 
sending  messengers  for  help  to  Petropaulovsk  on 
Avacha  Bay;  but,  as  they  were  to  learn  soon  enough, 
the  nearest  point  in  Kamchatka  was  one  hundred  miles 
across  the  sea.  Avacha  Bay  was  two  hundred  miles 
away.  And  the  Spanish  possessions  of  America, 
three  thousand.  They  found  the  landing  place  lit- 
erally swarming  with  animal  life  unknown  to  the  world 
before.  An  enormous  mammal,  more  than  three  tons 
in  weight,  with  hind  quarters  like  a  whale,  snout  and 
fore  fins  resembling  a  cow,  grazed  in  herds  on  the 
fields  of  sea-kelp  and  gazed  languidly  without  fear 
on  the  newcomer  —  Man.  This  was  the  famous  sea- 
cow  described  by  the  enthusiastic  Steller,  but  long  since 
extinct.  Blue  foxes  swarmed  round  the  very  feet  of  the 

1  I  adopt  the  views  of  Dr.  Stejneger,  of  the  National  Museum,  Washington,  on 
this  point,  as  he  has  personally  gone  over  every  foot  of  the  ground.. 


42  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

men  with  such  hungry  boldness  that  half  a  dozen  could 
be  clubbed  to  death  before  the  others  scampered. 
Later,  Steller  was  to  see  the  seal  rookeries,  that  were  to 
bring  so  much  wealth  to  the  world,  the  sea-lions  that 
roared  along  the  rocks  till  the  surf  shook,  the  sea-otter 
whose  rare  pelt,  more  priceless  than  beaver  or  sable, 
was  to  cause  the  exploration  and  devastation  of  the 
northern  half  of  the  Pacific  coast. 

The  land  was  as  it  had  appeared  to  the  ship  - 
utterly  treeless  except  for  trailing  willows.  The  brooks 
were  not  yet  frozen,  and  snow  had  barely  powdered 
the  mountains;  but  where  the  coves  ran  in  back  be- 
tween the  mountains  from  the  sea  were  gullies  or 
ditches  of  sand  and  sedge.  When  Steller  presently 
found  a  broken  window  casing  of  Kamchatka  half 
buried  in  the  sand,  it  gave  Waxel  some  confidence 
about  being  on  the  mainland  of  Asia;  but  before  Steller 
had  finished  his  two  days'  reconnoitre,  there  was  no  mis- 
taking the  fact  —  this  was  an  island,  and  a  barren  one 
at  the  best,  without  tree  or  shelter;  and  here  the  cast- 
aways must  winter. 

The  only  provisions  now  remaining  to  the  crew  were 
grease  and  mouldy  flour.  Steller  at  once  went  to  work. 
Digging  pits  in  the  narrow  gullies  of  sand,  he  covered 
these  over  with  driftwood,  the  rotten  sail-cloth,  moss, 
mud,  and  foxskins.  Cracks  were  then  chinked  up 
with  clay  and  more  foxskins.  By  the  8th  of  November 
he  was  ready  to  have  the  crew  landed;  but  the  ship 
rolled  helpless  as  a  log  to  the  tide,  and  the  few  well 


CONTINUATION    OF   BERING          43 

men  of  the  staff,  without  distinction  of  officers  from 
sailors,  had  to  stand  waist-deep  in  ice-slush  to  steady 
the  stretchers  made  of  mast  poles  and  sail-cloth,  that 
received  the  sick  lowered  over  decks.  Many  of  the 
scurvy  stricken  had  not  been  out  of  their  berths  for 
six  weeks.  The  fearful  depression  and  weakness, 
that  forewarn  scurvy,  had  been  followed  by  the  pains, 
the  swollen  limbs,  the  blue  spots  that  presage  death. 
A  spongy  excrescence  covered  the  gums.  The  teeth 
loosened.  The  slightest  noise  was  enough  to  throw 
the  patient  into  a  paroxysm  of  anguished  fright;  and 
some  died  on  the  decks  immediately  on  contact  with 
the  cuttingly  cold  air.  Others  expired  as  they  were 
lowered  to  the  stretchers;  others,  as  they  were  laid 
along  the  strip  of  sandy  shore,  where  the  bold  foxes 
were  already  devouring  the  dead  and  could  scarcely 
be  driven  off  by  the  dying.  In  this  way  perished 
nine  of  the  St.  Peter's  crew  during  the  week  of  the 
landing. 

By  November  10,  all  was  in  readiness  for  Bering's 
removal  from  the  ship.  As  the  end  approached,  his 
irritability  subsided  to  a  quieted  cheerfulness;  and 
he  could  be  heard  mumbling  over  thanks  to  God  for 
the  great  success  of  his  early  life.  Wrapped  in  furs, 
fastened  to  a  stretcher,  the  Dane  was  lowered  over  the 
ship,  carried  ashore,  and  laid  in  a  sand  pit.  All  that 
day  it  had  been  dull  and  leaden;  and  just  as  Bering 
was  being  carried,  it  began  to  snow  heavily.  Steller 
occupied  the  sand  pit  next  to  the  commander;  and  in 


44  VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

addition  to  acting  as  cook  and  physician  to  the  entire 
crew,  became  Bering's  devoted  attendant. 

By  the  i3th  of  November,  a  long  sand  pit  had  been 
roofed  over  as  a  sort  of  hospital  with  rug  floor;  and 
here  Steller  had  the  stricken  sailors  carried  in  from 
the  shore.  Poor  Waxel,  who  had  fought  so  bravely, 
was  himself  carried  ashore  on  November  21. 

Daily,  officers  tramped  inland  exploring;  and  daily, 
the  different  reconnoitring  parties  returned  with  word 
that  not  a  trace  of  human  habitation,  of  wood,  or  the 
way  to  Kamchatka  had  been  discovered.  Another 
island  there  was  to  the  east  —  now  known  as  Copper 
Island  —  and  two  little  islets  of  rock;  but  beyond 
these,  nothing  could  be  descried  from  the  highest 
mountains  but  sea  —  sea.  Bering  Island,  itself,  is 
some  fifty  miles  long  by  ten  wide,  very  high  at  the 
south,  very  swampy  at  the  north ;  but  the  Commander 
Group  is  as  completely  cut  ofF  from  both  Asia  and 
America  as  if  it  were  in  another  world.  The  climate 
was  not  intensely  cold;  but  it  was  so  damp,  the  very 
clothing  rotted;  and  the  gales  were  so  terrific  that  the 
men  could  only  leave  the  mud  huts  or  yurts  by  crawl- 
ing on  all  fours;  and  for  the  first  three  weeks  after  the 
landing,  blast  on  blast  of  northern  hurricane  swept 
over  the  islands. 

The  poor  old  ship  rode  her  best  at  anchor  through 
the  violent  storms;  but  on  November  28  she  was 
seen  to  snap  her  cable  and  go  staggering  drunkenly  to 
open  sea.  The  terror  of  the  castaways  at  this  spectacle 


CONTINUATION    OF    BERING         45 

was  unspeakable.  Their  one  chance  of  escape  in 
spring  seemed  lost;  but  the  beach  combers  began 
rolling  landward  through  the  howling  storm;  and  when 
next  the  spectators  looked,  the  St.  Peter  was  driving 
ashore  like  a  hurricane  ship,  and  rushed  full  force, 
nine  feet  deep  with  her  prow  into  the  sands  not  a  pistol 
shot  away  from  the  crew.  The  next  beach  comber 
could  not  budge  her.  Wind  and  tide  left  her  high 
and  dry,  fast  in  the  sand. 

But  what  had  become  of  Chirikoff,  on  board  the  St. 
Paul,  from  the  2Oth  of  June,  when  the  vessels  were 
separated  by  storm  ?  Would  it  have  been  any  easier 
for  Bering  if  he  had  known  that  the  consort  ship  had 
been  zigzagging  all  the  while  less  than  a  week's  cruise 
from  the  St.  Peter?  When  the  storm,  which  had 
separated  the  vessels,  subsided,  ChirikofF  let  the  St. 
Paul  drift  in  the  hope  that  Bering  might  sight  the 
missing  vessel.  Then  he  steered  southeast  to  lati- 
tude 48°  in  search  of  the  commander;  but  on  June  23 
a  council  of  officers  decided  it  was  a  waste  of  time  to 
search  longer,  and  ordered  the  vessel  to  be  headed 
northeastward.  The  wind  was  light;  the  water, 
clear;  and  ChirikofF  knew,  from  the  pilot-birds  follow- 
ing the  vessel,  from  the  water-logged  trees  churning 
past,  from  the  herds  of  seal  floundering  in  the  sea, 
that  land  must  lie  in  this  direction.  A  bright  lookout 
was  kept  for  the  first  two  weeks  of  July.  Two  hun- 
dred and  forty  miles  were  traversed;  and  on  a  calm, 


46  VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

clear  night  between  the  I3th  and  I5th  of  July,  there 
loomed  above  the  horizon  the  dusky  heights  of  a 
wooded  mountainous  land  in  latitude  55°  21'.  Chiri- 
koff  was  in  the  Alexander  Archipelago.  Daybreak 
came  with  the  St.  Paul  only  four  miles  off  the  con- 
spicuous heights  of  Cape  Addington.  Chirikoff  had 
discovered  land  some  thirty-six  hours  before  Bering. 
The  new  world  of  mountains  and  forests  roused  the 
wildest  enthusiasm  among  the  Russians.  A  small 


A  Glacier. 

boat  was  lowered;  but  it  failed  to  find  a  landing.  A 
light  wind  sprang  up,  and  the  vessel  stood  out  under 
shortened  sails  for  the  night.  By  morning  the  wind 
had  increased,  and  fog  had  blurred  out  all  outlines  of 
the  new-found  land.  Here  the  ocean  currents  ran 
northward;  and  by  morning  of  the  i/th,  when  the 
sun  pierced  the  washed  air  and  the  mountains  began 
to  appear  again  through  jagged  rifts  of  cloud-wraith, 
Chirikoff  found  himself  at  the  entrance  of  a  great  bay, 
girt  by  forested  mountains  to  the  water's  edge,  beneath 
the  high  cone  of  what  is  now  known  as  Mount  Edge- 


CONTINUATION    OF   BERING          47 

cumbe,  in  Sitka  Sound.  Sitka  Sound  is  an  indentation 
about  fifteen  miles  from  north  to  south,  with  such 
depths  of  water  that  there  is  no  anchorage  except 
south  and  southwestward  of  Mount  Edgecumbe.  Im- 
penetrable woods  lined  the  mountains  to  the  very 
shore.  Great  trunks  of  uprooted  trees  swept  past  the 
ship  continually.  Even  as  the  clouds  cleared,  leaving 
vast  forests  and  mountain  torrents  and  snowy  peaks 
visible,  a  hazy  film  of  intangible  gloom  seemed  to 
settle  over  the  shadowy  harbor.1 

Chirikoff  wished  to  refill  his  water-casks.  Also,  he 
was  ambitious  to  do  what  the  scientists  cursed  Bering 
for  not  doing  off  St.  Elias  —  explore  thoroughly  the 
land  newly  found.  The  long-boat  was  lowered  with 
Abraham  DementiefF  and  ten  armed  men.  The  crew 
was  supplied  with  muskets,  a  brass  cannon,  and  pro- 
visions for  several  days.  ChirikofF  arranged  a  simple 
code  of  signals  with  the  men  —  probably  a  column  of 
smoke,  or  sunlight  thrown  back  by  a  tin  mirror  —  by 
which  he  could  know  if  all  went  well.  Then,  with  a 
cheer,  the  first  Russians  to  put  foot  on  the  soil  of 
America  bent  to  the  oar  and  paddled  swiftly  away 
from  the  St.  Paul  for  the  shadow  of  the  forested  moun- 
tains etched  from  the  inland  shore.  The  long-boat 
seemed  smaller  as  the  distance  from  the  St.  Paul  in- 
creased. Then  men  and  boat  disappeared  behind  an 

1  Dr.  George  Davidson,  President  of  the  Geographical  Society  of  the  Pacific,  has 
written  an  irrefutable  pamphlet  on  why  Kyak  Island  and  Sitka  Sound  must  be  accepted 
as  the  landfalls  of  Bering  and  ChirikofF. 


48  VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

elbow  of  land.  A  flash  of  reflected  light  from  the 
hidden  shore;  and  ChirikoflF  knew  the  little  band  of 
explorers  had  safely  landed.  The  rest  of  the  crew 
went  to  work  putting  things  shipshape  on  the  St. 
Paul.  The  day  passed  with  more  safety  signals  from 
the  shore.  The  crew  of  the  St.  Paul  slept  sound  out 
in  mid-harbor  unsuspicious  of  danger.  Another  day 
passed,  and  another  night.  Not  so  many  signals ! 
Had  the  little  band  of  Russians  gone  far  inland  for 
water,  and  the  signals  been  hidden  by  the  forest  gloom  ? 
A  wind  was  singing  in  the  rigging  —  threatening  a 
landward  gale  that  might  carry  the  St.  Paul  somewhat 
nearer  those  rocky  shores  than  the  Russians  could 
wish.  ChirikofF  sent  a  sailor  spying  from  the  look- 
out of  the  highest  yard-arm.  No  signals  at  all  this 
day;  nor  the  next  day;  nor  the  next!  The  St.  Paul 
had  only  one  other  small  boat.  Fearing  the  jolly- 
boat  had  come  to  grief  among  the  rocks  and  counter- 
currents,  ChirikofF  bade  Sidor  Savelief,  the  bo'swain, 
and  six  armed  sailors,  including  carpenters  to  repair 
damages,  take  the  remaining  boat  and  go  to  De- 
mentieff 's  rescue.  The  strictest  orders  were  given  that 
both  boats  return  at  once.  Barely  had  the  second 
boat  rounded  the  elbow  of  shore  where  the  first  boat 
had  disappeared  when  a  great  column  of  smoke  burst 
from  the  tree-tops  of  the  hidden  shore.  To  ChirikofF's 
amazement,  the  second  crew  made  no  signal.  The 
night  passed  uneasily.  Sailors  were  on  the  watch. 
Ship's  rigging  was  put  in  shape.  Dawn  was  witnessed 


CONTINUATION    OF    BERING          49 

by  eager  eyes  gazing  shoreward.  The  relief  was  in- 
expressible when  two  boats  —  a  long  and  a  short  one  like 
those  used  by  the  two  crews  —  were  seen  rounding  the 
elbow  of  land.  The  landward  breeze  was  now  strain- 
ing the  St.  Paul's  hawsers.  Glad  to  put  for  open  sea 
to  weather  the  coming  gale,  Chirikoff  ordered  all 
hands  on  deck  and  anchors  up.  The  small  boats 
came  on  with  a  bounce  over  the  ocean  swell;  but 
suddenly  one  of  Chirikoff's  Russians  pointed  to  the 
approaching  crafts.  There  was  a  pause  in  the  rattle 
of  anchor  chains.  There  was  a  pause  in  the  bounc- 
ing of  the  small  boats,  too.  They  were  not  the  Rus- 
sian jolly-boats.  They  were  canoes;  and  the  canoes 
were  rilled  with  savages  as  dumb  with  astonishment  at 
the  apparition  of  the  St.  Paul  as  the  Russians  were  at 
the  canoes.  Before  the  Russians  had  come  to  their 
senses,  or  ChirikofF  had  time  to  display  presents  to 
allure  the  savages  on  board  as  hostages,  the  Indians 
rose  in  their  places,  uttered  a  war-whoop  that  set  the 
rocks  echoing,  and  beating  their  paddles  on  the  gun'els, 
scudded  for  shore.  Gradually  the  meaning  dawned 
on  ChirikofF.  His  two  crews  had  been  destroyed. 
His  small  boats  were  lost.  His  supply  of  fresh  water 
was  running  low.  The  fire  that  he  had  observed 
had  been  a  fire  of  orgies  over  mutilated  men.  The 
St.  Paul  was  on  a  hostile  shore  with  such  a  gale  blow- 

O 

ing  as  threatened  destruction  on  the  rocks.  There 
was  nothing  to  do  but  scud  for  open  sea.  When  the 
gale  abated,  ChirikofF  returned  to  Sitka  and  cruised 


50  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

the  shore  for  some  sign  of  the  sailors :  but  not  a  trace 
of  the  lost  men  could  be  descried.  By  this  time 
water  was  so  scarce,  the  men  were  wringing  rain  mois- 
ture out  of  the  sails  and  distilling  sea-water.  A  council 
was  called.  All  agreed  it  would  be  worse  than  folly  to 
risk  the  entire  crew  for  the  twelve  men,  who  were  prob- 
ably already  dead.  There  was  no  small  boat  to  land 
for  more  water;  and  the  St.  Paul  was  headed  about 
with  all  speed  for  the  northwest.1 

Slant  rain  settled  over  the  sea.  The  wind  increased 
and  grew  more  violent.  The  St.  Paul  drove  ahead 
like  a  ghost  form  pursued  through  a  realm  of  mist. 
Toward  the  end  of  July,  when  the  weather  cleared, 
stupendous  mountains  covered  with  snow  were  seen 
on  the  northwestward  horizon  like  walls  of  ice  with  the 
base  awash  in  thundering  sea.  Thousands  of  cata- 
racts, clear  as  crystal,  flashed  against  the  mountain 
sides;  and  in  places  the  rock  wall  rose  sheer  two 
thousand  feet  from  the  roaring  tide.  Inlets,  gloomy 
with  forested  mountain  walls  where  impetuous  streams 
laden  with  the  milky  silt  of  countless  glaciers  tore 
their  way  through  the  rocks  to  the  sea,  could  be  seen 
receding  inland  through  the  fog.  Then  the  foul 
weather  settled  over  the  sea  again;  and  by  the  first 

1  Thus  the  terrible  Sitkan  massacre  of  a  later  day  was  preceded  by  the  slaughter  of 
the  first  Russians  to  reach  America.  The  Russian  government  of  *  later  day  originated 
a  comical  claim  to  more  territory  on  the  ground  that  descendants  of  these  lost  Russians 
had  formed  settlements  farther  down  the  coast,  alleging  in  proof  that  subsequent  explorer* 
had  found  red-headed  and  light-complexioned  people  as  far  south  as  the  Chinook  tribes. 
To  such  means  will  statecraft  stoop. 


CONTINUATION    OF    BERING          51 

week  of  August,  with  baffling  winds  and  choppy 
sea,  the  St.  Paul  was  veering  southwestward  where 
Alaska  projects  a  long  arm  into  the  Pacific.  ChirikofF 
had  passed  the  line  where  forests  dwarf  to  willows,  and 
willows  to  sedges,  and  sedges  to  endless  leagues  of 
rolling  tundras.  Somewhere  near  Kadiak,  land  was 
again  sighted.  When  the  fog  lifted,  the  vapor  of  far 
volcanoes  could  be  seen  hanging  lurid  over  the  moun- 
tain tops. 

Wind  was  followed  by  dead  calm,  when  the  sails 
literally  fell  to  pieces  with  rain-rot  in  the  fog;  and  on 
the  evening  of  September  8  the  becalmed  crew  were 
suddenly  aroused  by  the  tide-rip  of  roaring  breakers. 
Heaving  out  all  anchors  at  once,  ChirikofF  with  diffi- 
culty made  fast  to  rocky  bottom.  In  the  morning, 
when  the  fog  lifted,  he  found  himself  in  the  centre  of 
a  shallow  bay  surrounded  by  the  towering  cliffs  of 
what  is  now  known  as  Adakh  Island.  While  waiting 
for  a  breeze,  he  saw  seven  canoe  loads  of  savages  put 
out  from  shore  chanting  some  invocation.  The  Rus- 
sians threw  out  presents,  but  the  savages  took  no 
notice,  gradually  surrounding  the  St.  Paul.  All  this 
time  ChirikofF  had  been  without  any  water  but  the 
stale  casks  brought  from  Kamchatka ;  and  he  now 
signalled  his  desperate  need  to  the  Indians.  They  re- 
sponded by  bringing  bladders  full  of  fresh  water;  but 
they  refused  to  mount  the  decks.  And  by  evening 
fourteen  canoe  loads  of  the  taciturn  savages  were 
circling  threateningly  round  the  Russians.  Luckily, 


52  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

at    nightfall   a  wind    sprang  up.      Chirikoff    at  once 
slipped  anchor  and  put  to  sea. 

By  the  third  week  of  August,  the  rations  of  rye 
meal  had  been  reduced  to  once  a  day  instead  of  twice 
in  order  to  economize  water.  Only  twelve  casks  of 
water  remained;  and  Chirikoff  was  fifteen  hundred 
miles  from  Kamchatka.  Cold,  hunger,  thirst,  then 
did  the  rest.  Chirikoff  himself  was  stricken  with 
scurvy  by  the  middle  of  September,  and  one  sailor  died 
of  the  scourge.  From  the  26th,  one  death  a  day  fol- 
lowed in  succession.  Though  down,  Chirikoff  was 
not  beaten.  Discipline  was  maintained  among  the 
hungry  crew;  and  each  day  Chirikoff  issued  exact 
orders.  Without  any  attempt  at  steering,  the  ship 
drifted  westward.  No  more  land  was  seen  by  the 
crew;  but  on  the  2d  of  October,  the  weather  clearing, 
an  observation  was  taken  of  the  sun  that  showed  them 
they  were  nearing  Kamchatka.  On  the  8th,  land  was 
sighted;  but  one  man  alone,  the  pilot,  Yelagin,  had 
strength  to  stay  at  the  helm  till  Avacha  Bay  was  ap- 
proached, when  distress  signals  were  fired  from  the 
ship's  cannon  to  bring  help  from  land.  Poor  Croyere 
de  1'Isle,  kinsman  to  the  map  makers  whose  mistakes 
had  caused  disaster,  sick  unto  death  of  the  scurvy, 
had  kept  himself  alive  with  liquor  and  now  insisted  on 
being  carried  ashore.  The  first  breath  of  clear  air 
above  decks  was  enough.  The  scientist  fell  dead 
within  the  home  harbor.  Chirikoff  was  landed  the 
same  day,  all  unaware  that  at  times  in  the  mist  and 


Sea  Cows. 


CONTINUATION    OF    BERING          53 

rain  he  had  been  within  from  fifteen  to  forty  miles  of 
poor  Bering,  zigzagging  across  the  very  trail  of  the 
afflicted  sister  ship. 

By  December  the  entire  crew  of  Bering's  castaways, 
prisoners  on  the  sea-girt  islands  of  the  North  Pacific, 
were  lodged  in  five  underground  huts  on  the  bank  of  a 
stream.  In  1885,  when  these  mud  huts  or  yurts  were 
examined,  they  were  seen  to  have  walls  of  peat  three 
feet  thick.  To  each  man  was  given  a  pound  of  flour. 
For  the  rest,  their  food  must  be  what  they  caught  or 
clubbed  —  mainly,  at  first,  the  sea-otter,  whose  flesh 
was  unpalatable  to  the  taste  and  tough  as  leather. 
Later,  Steller  discovered  that  the  huge  sea-cow  - 
often  thirty-five  feet  long  —  seen  pasturing  on  the 
fields  of  sea-kelp  at  low  tide,  afforded  food  of  almost 
the  same  quality  as  the  land  cow.  Seaweed  grew  in 
miniature  forests  on  the  island;  and  on  this  pastured 
the  monster  bovine  of  the  sea  —  true  fish  in  its  hind 
quarters  but  oxlike  in  its  head  and  its  habits  —  herd- 
ing together  like  cattle,  snorting  like  a  horse,  moving 
the  neck  from  side  to  side  as  it  grazed,  with  the  hind 
leg  a  fin,  the  fore  fin  a  leg,  udder  between  the  fore  legs, 
and  in  place  of  teeth,  plates.  Nine  hundred  or  more 
sea-otter  —  whose  pelts  afterward  brought  a  fortune 
to  the  crew  —  were  killed  for  food  by  Steller  and  his 
companions ;  but  two  sea-cows  provided  the  castaways 
with  food  for  six  weeks.  On  November  22d  died  the 
old  mate,  who  had  weathered  northern  seas  for  fifty 


54  VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

years.  In  all,  out  of  a  crew  of  seventy-seven,  there  had 
perished  by  January  6,  1742,  when  the  last  death  oc- 
curred, thirty-one  men. 

Steller's  hut  was  next  to  Bering's.  From  that  No- 
vember day  when  he  was  carried  from  the  ship  through 
the  snow  to  the  sand  pit,  the  commander  sank  without 
rallying.  Foxskins  had  been  spread  on  the  ground 
as  a  bed ;  but  the  sand  loosened  from  the  sides  of 
the  pit  and  kept  rolling  down  on  the  dying  man. 
Toward  the  last  he  begged  Steller  to  let  the  sand 
rest,  as  it  kept  in  the  warmth;  so  that  he  was  soon 
covered  with  sand  to  his  waist.  White  billows  and  a 
gray  sky  followed  the  hurricane  gale  that  had  hurled 
the  ship  in  on  the  beach.  All  night  between  the  even- 
ing of  the  yth  and  the  morning  of  the  8th  of  December, 
the  moaning  of  the  south  wind  could  be  heard  through 
the  tattered  rigging  of  the  wrecked  ship;  and  all 
night  the  dying  Dane  was  communing  with  his  God. 
He  was  now  over  sixty  years  of  age.  To  a  constitution 
already  broken  by  the  nagging  cares  of  eight  years 
and  by  hardships  indescribable,  by  scurvy  and  by  ex- 
posure, was  added  an  acute  inflammation.  Bering's 
power  of  resistance  was  sapped.  Two  hours  before 
daybreak  on  December  8,  1741,  the  brave  Dane 
breathed  his  last.  He  was  interred  on  the  Qth  of 
December  between  the  graves  of  the  mate  and  the 
steward  on  the  hillside;  and  the  bearded  Russians 
came  down  from  the  new-made  grave  that  day  bowed 
and  hopeless.  A  plain  Greek  cross  was  placed  above 


CONTINUATION    OF    BERING          55 

his  grave;  and  a  copy  of  that  cross  marks  the  same 
grave  to-day. 

The  question  arises  —  where  does  Bering  stand 
among  the  world  heroes  ?  The  world  loves  success 
better  than  defeat;  and  spectacular  success  better  than 
duty  plainly  done.  If  success  means  accomplishing 
what  one  sets  out  to  do  in  spite  of  almost  insuperable 
difficulties  —  Bering  won  success.  He  set  out  to  dis- 
cover the  northwest  coast  of  America ;  and  he  perished 
doing  it.  But  if  heroism  means  a  something  more 
than  tangible  success;  if  it  means  that  divine  quality 
of  fighting  for  the  truth  independent  of  reward,  whether 
one  is  to  be  beaten  or  not;  if  it  means  setting  to  one's 
self  the  task  of  perishing  for  a  truth,  without  the  slight- 
est hope  of  establishing  that  truth  —  then,  Bering 
stands  very  high  indeed  among  the  world's  heroes. 
Steller,  who  had  cursed  him  for  not  remaining  longer 
at  Mount  St.  Elias,  bore  the  highest  testimony  to  his 
integrity  and  worth.  It  may  be  said  that  a  stronger 
type  of  hero  would  have  scrunched  into  nothingness 
the  vampire  blunderers  who  misled  the  ship ;  but  it 
must  be  remembered  that  stronger  types  of  heroes 
usually  save  their  own  skins  and  let  the  underlings 
suffer.  While  Bering  might  have  averted  the  disaster 
that  attended  the  expedition,  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  when  he  perished,  there  perished  the  very  soul  of 
the  great  enterprise,  which  at  once  crumbled  to  pieces. 

On  a  purely  material  plane,  what  did  Bering  ac- 
complish ? 


56  VIKINGS    OF    THE    PACIFIC 

He  dispelled  forever  the  myth  of  the  Northeast 
Passage  if  the  world  would  have  but  accepted  his  con- 
clusions. The  coast  of  Japan  was  charted  under  his 
direction.  The  Arctic  coast  of  Asia  was  charted  under 
his  direction.  A  country  as  large  as  from  Maine  to 
Florida,  or  Baltimore  to  Texas,  with  a  river  compar- 
able only  to  the  Mississippi,  was  discovered  by  him. 
The  furs  of  this  country  for  a  single  year  more  than 
paid  all  that  Russia  spent  to  discover  it;  all  that  the 
United  States  later  paid  to  Russia  for  it. 

A  dead  whale  thrown  up  on  the  shore  proved  a 
godsend  to  the  weak  and  famishing  castaways.  As 
their  bodies  grew  stronger,  the  spirit  of  merriment  that 
gilds  life's  darkest  clouds  began  to  come  back,  and 
the  whale  was  jocularly  known  among  the  Russians  as 
"our  magazine  of  provisions." 

Then  parties  of  hunters  began  going  out  for  the  sea- 
otter,  which  hid  its  head  during  storm  under  the  kelp 
of  the  sea  fields.  Steller  knew  the  Chinese  would  pay 
what  in  modern  money  is  from  one  hundred  to  one 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  for  each  of  these  sea-otter 
skins;  and  between  nine  hundred  and  one  thousand 
were  taken  by  the  wrecked  crew.  The  same  skin  of 
prime  quality  sells  in  a  London  auction  room  to-day 
for  one  thousand  dollars.  And  in  spring,  when  the 
sea-otter  disappeared,  there  came  herds  —  herds  in 
millions  upon  millions  —  of  another  visitant  to  the 
shores  of  the  Commander  Islands  —  the  fur  seal, 


CONTINUATION    OF    BERING 


57 


which    afforded    new   hunting   to   the   crew,    and    new 
wealth  to  the  world. 

The  terrible  danger  now  was  not  from  starvation, 
but  mutiny,  murder,  or  massacre  among  the  branded 
criminals  of  the  discontented  crew.  Waxel,  as  he  re- 


Seals  in  a  Rookery  on  Bering  Island. 

covered,  was  afraid  of  tempting  revolt  with  orders,  and 
convened  the  crew  by  vote  to  determine  all  that  should 
be  done.  Officers  and  men  —  there  was  no  distinc- 
iton.  By  March  of  1742  the  ground  had  cleared  of 
snow.  Waxel  called  a  meeting  to  suggest  breaking 
up  the  packet  vessel  to  build  a  smaller  craft.  A  vote 


58  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

was  asked.  The  resolution  was  called,  written  out, 
and  signed  by  every  survivor,  but  afterward,  when 
officers  and  men  set  themselves  to  the  well-nigh  im- 
possible task  of  untackling  the  ship  without  implements 
of  iron,  revolt  appeared  among  the  workers.  Again 
Waxel  avoided  mutiny.  A  meeting  was  called,  another 
vote  taken,  the  recalcitrants  shamed  down.  The  crew 
lacked  more  than  tools.  There  was  no  ship's  carpen- 
ter. Finally  a  Cossack,  who  was  afterward  raised 
to  the  nobility  for  his  work,  consented  to  act  as  director 
of  the  building,  and  on  the  6th  of  May  a  vessel  forty 
feet  long,  thirteen  beam,  and  six  deep,  was  on  the  stocks. 
All  June,  the  noise  of  the  planking  went  on  till  the 
mast  raised  its  yard-arms,  and  an  eight-oared  single- 
master,  such  as  the  old  Vikings  of  the  North  Sea  used, 
was  well  under  way. 

The  difficulties  of  such  shipbuilding  can  hardly  be 
realized.  There  was  no  wood  but  the  wood  of  the  old 
ship,  no  rigging  but  the  old  hemp,  no  tar  but  such  as 
could  be  melted  out  of  the  old  hemp  in  earth  pits ;  and 
very  few  axes.  The  upper  part  was  calked  with 
tallow  of  the  sea-cow,  the  under  with  tar  from  the  old 
hull.  The  men  also  constructed  a  second  small  boat 
or  canoe. 

On  the  loth  of  August,  with  such  cheers  as  the 
island  never  heard  before  or  since,  the  single-master 
was  launched  from  the  skids  and  named  the  St. 
Peter.  Cannon  balls  and  cartridges  were  thrown  in 
bottom  as  ballast.  Luckily,  eight  hundred  pounds  of 


CONTINUATION    OF    BERING          59 

meal  had  been  reserved  for  the  return  voyage,  and 
Steller  had  salted  down  steaks  of  whale  meat  and  sea- 
cow.  On  the  evening  of  August  16,  after  solemn 
prayer  and  devotions,  with  one  last  look  to  the  lonely 
crosses  on  the  hillside  where  lay  the  dead,  the  castaways 
went  on  board.  A  sharp  breeze  was  blowing  from  the 
north.  Hoisting  sail,  they  glided  out  to  sea.  The 
old  jolly-boat  bobbled  behind  in  tow.  Late  at  night, 
when  the  wind  fell,  the  eager  mariners  bent  to  the  oar. 
By  noon  next  day  they  had  rounded  the  southeast 
corner  of  the  island.  Two  days  afterward,  rough 
weather  set  the  old  jolly-boat  bumping  her  nose  so 
violently  on  the  heels  of  the  St.  Peter,  that  the  cable 
had  to  be  cut  and  the  small  boat  set  adrift.  That 
night  the  poor  tallow-calked  planks  leaked  so  badly, 
pumps  and  buckets  were  worked  at  fever  heat,  and  all 
the  ballast  was  thrown  overboard.  Sometime  during 
the  25th,  there  shone  above  the  silver  rim  where 
sea  and  sky  met,  the  opal  dome  of  far  mountains, 
Kamchatka  ! 

The  bearded  men  could  control  themselves  no 
longer.  Shout  on  shout  made  the  welkin  ring.  Tears 
streamed  down  the  rough,  unwashed  faces.  The  Cos- 
sacks wept  like  children.  Men  vied  with  each  other 
to  seize  the  oars  and  row  like  mad.  The  tide-rip 
bounding  —  lifting  —  falling —  racing  over  seas  for  the 
shores  of  Kamchatka  never  ran  so  mad  and  swift  a 
course  as  the  crazy  craft  there  bouncing  forward 
over  the  waves.  And  when  they  saw  the  home  harbor 


60  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

of  Petropaulovsk,  Avacha  Bay,  on  August  27,  exul- 
tation knew  no  bounds.  The  men  fired  off  guns, 
beat  oars  on  the  deck  rail,  shouted  —  shouted  - 
shouted  till  the  mountains  echoed  and  every  living  soul 
of  Avacha  dashed  to  the  waterside  scarcely  believing 
the  evidence  of  his  eyes  —  that  the  castaways  of 
Bering's  ship  had  returned.  Then  one  may  well 
believe  that  the  monks  set  the  chapel  bells  ringing  and 
the  cannon  roared  a  welcome  from  Avacha  Bay. 

Chirikoff  had  in  May  sailed  in  search  of  Bering, 
passing  close  to  the  island  where  the  castaways  were 
prisoners  of  the  sea,  but  he  did  not  see  the  Commander 
Islands;  and  all  hope  had  been  given  up  for  any  word 
of  the  St.  Peter.  Waxel  wintered  that  year  at  Avacha 
Bay,  crossing  the  mainland  in  the  spring  of  1743.  In 
September  of  the  same  year,  an  imperial  decree  put  an 
end  to  the  Northern  Expedition,  and  Waxel  set  out 
across  Siberia  to  take  the  crew  back  to  St.  Petersburg. 
Poor  Steller  died  on  the  way  from  exposure. 

So  ended  the  greatest  naval  exploration  known  to 
the  world.  Beside  it,  other  expeditions  to  explore 
America  pale  to  insignificance.  La  Salle  and  La  Ver- 
endrye  ascended  the  St.  Lawrence,  crossed  inland 
plains,  rafted  down  the  mighty  tide  of  the  great  inland 
rivers;  but  La  Salle  stopped  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, and  La  Verendrye  was  checked  by  the  barrier 
of  the  Rockies.  Lewis  and  Clark  accomplished  yet 
more.  After  ascending  the  Missouri  and  crossing  the 
plains,  they  traversed  the  Rockies;  but  they  were 


CONTINUATION    OF   BERING         61 

stopped  at  the  Pacific.  When  Bering  had  crossed 
the  rivers  and  mountains  of  the  two  continents  —  first 
Europe,  then  Asia  —  and  reached  the  Pacific,  his  ex- 
pedition had  only  begun.  Little  remains  to  Russia 
of  what  he  accomplished  but  the  group  of  rocky  islets 
where  he  perished.  But  judged  by  the  difficulties 
which  he  overcame;  by  the  duties  desperately  impos- 
sible, done  plainly  and  doggedly,  by  death  heroic  in 
defeat  —  Bering's  expedition  to  northwestern  America 
is  without  a  peer  in  the  annals  of  the  New  World 
discovery.1 

1  Coxe's  Discoveries  of  the  Russians  between  Asia  and  America  (Paris,  1781)  sup- 
plies local  data  on  Siberia  in  the  time  of  Bering.  Voyages  from  Asia  to  America,  by 
S.  Miiller  of  the  Royal  Academy,  St.  Petersburg,  1 764,  is  simply  excellent  in  that  part 
of  the  voyage  dealing  with  the  wreck.  Peter  Lauridscn's  Vltus  Bering  translated  from 
the  Danish  by  Olson  covers  all  three  aims  of  the  expedition,  Japanese  and  Arctic  voyages 
as  well  as  American. 


CHAPTER    III 

1741-1760 
THE   SEA-OTTER   HUNTERS 

How  the  Sea-otter  Pelts  brought  back  by  Bering's  Crew  led  to  the 
Exploitation  of  the  Northwest  Coast  of  America  — •  Difference  of 
Sea-otter  from  Other  Fur-bearing  Animals  of  the  West  —  Perils 
of  the  Hunt 

WHEN  the  castaway  crew  of  Vitus  Bering  looked 
about  for  means  to  exist  on  the  barren  islands  where 
they  were  wrecked,  they  found  the  kelp  beds  and  sea- 
weed fields  of  the  North  Pacific  literally  alive  with  a 
little  animal,  which  the  Russians  called  "the  sea- 
beaver."  Sailors  of  Kamchatka  and  eastern  Siberia 
knew  the  sea-beaver  well,  for  it  had  been  found  on 
the  Asiatic  side  of  the  Pacific,  and  its  pelt  was  regarded 
as  priceless  by  Chinese  and  Tartar  merchants.  But 
where  did  this  strange  denizen  of  northern  waters  live  ? 
Only  in  rare  seasons  did  the  herds  assemble  on  the 
rocky  islets  of  Kamchatka  and  Japan.  And  when 
spring  came,  the  sea-beaver  disappeared.  Asia  was 
not  its  home.  Where  did  it  go  ? 

Russian  adventurers  who  rafted  the  coast  of  Siberia 

62 


THE   SEA-OTTER   HUNTERS          63 

in  crazy  skiffs,  related  that  the  sea-beaver  always 
disappeared  northeastward,  whence  the  spruce  drift- 
wood and  dead  whales  with  harpoons  of  strange  hunt- 
ers and  occasionally  wrecks  of  walrus-skin  boats  came 
washing  from  an  unknown  land. 

It  was  only  when  Bering's  crew  were  left  prisoners 
of  the  sea  on  an  island  barren  as  a  billiard  ball  that 
the  hunger-desperate  men  found  the  habitat  of  the 
sea-beaver  to  be  the  kelp  beds  of  the  Aleutian  Isl- 
ands and  northwestern  America.  But  what  use  were 
priceless  pelts  where  neither  money  nor  merchant  was, 
and  men  mad  with  hunger  were  thrown  back  on  the 
primal  necessities  without  thought  of  gain  ? 

The  hungry  Russian  sailors  fell  on  the  kelp  beds, 
clubbing  right  and  left  regardless  of  pelts.  What 
matter  if  the  flesh  was  tough  as  leather  and  rank  as 
musk  ?  It  filled  the  empty  stomachs  of  fifty  desperate 
men;  and  the  skins  were  used  on  the  treeless  isle  as 
rugs,  as  coats,  as  walls,  as  stuff  to  chink  the  cracks  of 
earth  pits,  where  the  sailors  huddled  like  animals  in 
underground  caves  with  no  ceiling  but  the  tattered 
sails.  So  passed  a  year  —  the  most  desolate  year  in 
the  annals  of  ocean  voyaging,  and  when  the  castaways 
rafted  back  to  Asia  on  a  skifF  made  of  their  wrecked 
ship,  they  were  clad  in  the  raw  skins  of  the  sea-otter, 
which  they  had  eaten.  In  all,  nearly  a  thousand  skins 
were  carried  back;  and  for  those  skins,  which  the 
Russian  sailors  had  scarcely  valued,  Chinese  mer- 
chants paid  what  in  modern  money  would  be  from 


64  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  dollars  a 
pelt.1 

After  that,  the  Russians  of  Siberia  needed  no  incen- 
tive to  hunt  the  sea-beaver.  Its  habitat  was  known, 
and  all  the  riffraff  adventurers  of  Siberian  exile,  Tar- 
tars, Kamchatkans,  Russians,  criminals,  and  officers 
of  royal  lineage,  engaged  in  the  fur  trade  of  western 
America.  Danger  made  no  difference.  All  that  was 
needed  was  a  boat;  and  the  boat  was  usually  rough- 
hewn  out  of  the  green  timbers  of  Kamchatka.  If  iron 
bolts  were  lacking  so  far  from  Europe  as  the  width  of 
two  continents,  the  boat  builders  used  deer  sinew,  or 
thongs  of  walrus  hide.  Tallow  took  the  place  of  tar, 
deerskin  the  place  of  hemp,  and  courage  the  place 
of  caution.  A  Siberian  merchant  then  chanced  an 
outfit  of  supplies  for  half  what  the  returns  might  be. 
The  commander  —  officer  or  exile  —  then  enlisted 
sailors  among  landsmen.  Landsmen  were  preferable 
for  this  kind  of  voyaging.  Either  in  the  sublime  cour- 
age of  ignorance,  or  with  the  audacity  of  desperation, 
the  poor  landsmen  dared  dangers  which  no  sailors 
would  risk  on  such  crazy  craft,  two  thousand  miles 
from  a  home  port  on  an  outrageous  sea. 

England  and  the  United  States  became  involved  in 
the  exploitation  of  the  Pacific  coast  in  almost  the  same 
way.  When  Captain  Cook  was  at  Nootka  Sound 
thirty  years  after  Bering's  death,  his  crews  traded 

1  The  price  of  the  sea-otter  varied,  falling  in  seasons  when  the  market  was  glutted 
to  $40  a  pelt,  selling  as  high,  in  cases  of  rare  beauty,  as  $  1000  a  pelt. 


THE   SEA-OTTER    HUNTERS          65 

trinkets  over  the  taffrail  netting  for  any  kind  of  furs 
the  natives  of  the  west  coast  chose  to  exchange.  In 
the  long  voyaging  to  Arctic  waters  afterward,  these 
furs  went  to  waste  with  rain-rot.  More  than  two- 
thirds  were  thrown  or  given  away.  The  remaining 
third  sold  in  China  on  the  home  voyage  of  the  ships 
for  what  would  be  more  than  ten  thousand  dollars  of 
modern  money.  News  of  that  fact  was  enough. 
Boston,  New  York,  London,  rubbed  their  eyes  to  pos- 
sibilities of  fur  trade  on  the  Pacific  coast.  As  the 
world  knows,  Boston's  efforts  resulted  in  the  chance 
discovery  of  the  Columbia ;  New  York's  efforts,  in  the 
foundation  of  the  Astor  fortunes.  East  India,  France, 
England,  Spain,  the  United  States,  vied  with  each 
other  for  the  prize  of  America's  west  coast. 

Just  as  the  beaver  led  French  voyagers  westward 
from  Quebec  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  south  to  Texas, 
north  to  the  Athabasca,  so  the  hunt  of  the  sea-beaver 
led  to  the  exploration  of  the  North  Pacific  coast. 

"Sea-beaver"  the  Russians  called  the  owner  of  the 
rare  pelt.  "Sea-otter"  it  was  known  to  the  English 
and  American  hunters.  But  it  is  like  neither  the  otter 
nor  beaver,  though  its  habits  are  akin  to  both.  Its 
nearest  relative  is  probably  the  fur  seal.  Like  the  seal, 
its  pelt  has  an  ebony  shimmer,  showing  silver  when 
blown  open,  soft  black  tipped  with  white,  when  ex- 
amined hair  by  hair.  Six  feet,  the  full-grown  sea-otter 
measures  from  nose  to  stumpy  tail,  with  a  beaver- 


66  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

shaped  face,  teeth  like  a  cat,  and  short  webbed  feet. 
Some  hunters  say  the  sea-otter  is  literally  born  on  the 
tumbling  waves  —  a  single  pup  at  a  time ;  others, 
that  the  sea-otter  retire  to  some  solitary  rocky  islet  to 
bring  forth  their  young.  Certain  it  is  they  are 
rocked  on  the  deep  from  their  birth,  "cradled"  in  the 
sea,  sleeping  on  their  backs  in  the  water,  clasping  the 
young  in  their  arms  like  a  human  being,  tossing  up 
seaweed  in  play  by  the  hour  like  mischievous  monkeys, 
or  crawling  out  on  some  safe,  sea-girt  rocklet,  where 
they  shake  the  water  from  their  fur  and  make  their 
toilet,  stretching  and  arranging  and  rearranging  hair 
like  a  cat.  Only  the  fiercest  gales  drive  the  sea-otter 
ashore,  for  it  must  come  above  water  to  breathe;  and 
it  must  come  ashore  to  sleep  where  it  can  breathe; 
for  the  ocean  wash  in  a  storm  would  smother  the 
sleeper.  And  its  favorite  sleeping  grounds  are  in  the 
forests  of  kelp  and  seaweed,  where  it  can  bury  its 
head,  and  like  the  ostrich  think  itself  hidden.  A 
sound,  a  whiff  —  the  faintest  tinge  —  of  smoke  from 
miles  away  is  enough  to  frighten  the  sleeper,  who  leaps 
up  with  a  fierce  courage  unequalled  in  the  animal 
world,  and  makes  for  sea  in  lightning-flash  bounds. 

When  Bering  found  the  northwest  coast  of  America, 
the  sea-otter  frequented  all  the  way  from  what  is  now 
California  to  the  Commander  Islands,  the  last  link  of 
the  chain  from  America  to  Asia.  Sea-otter  were  found 
and  taken  in  thousands  at  Sitka  Sound,  in  Yakutat 
Bay,  Prince  William  Sound,  Cook's  Inlet,  and  all 


THE   SEA-OTTER    HUNTERS          67 

along  the  chain  of  eleven  hundred  Aleutian  Islands  to 
the  Commander  Group,  off  Kamchatka.  Where  they 
were  found  in  thousands  then,  they  are  seen  only  in 
tens  and  hundreds  to-day.  Where  they  are  in  hun- 
dreds one  year,  they  may  not  come  at  all  the  next, 
having  been  too  hard  hunted.  This  explains  why 
there  used  to  be  returns  of  five  thousand  in  a  single 
year  at  Kadiak  or  Oonalaska  or  Cook's  Inlet;  and 
the  next  year,  less  than  a  hundred  from  the  same 
places.  Japan  long  ago  moved  for  laws  to  protect 
the  sea-otter  as  vigorously  as  the  seal;  but  Japan  was 
only  snubbed  by  England  and  the  United  States  for 
her  pains,  and  to-day  the  only  adequate  protection 
afforded  the  diminishing  sea-otter  is  in  the  tiny  remnant 
of  Russia's  once  vast  American  possessions  —  on  the 
Commander  Islands  where  by  law  only  two  hundred 
sea-otter  may  be  taken  a  year,  and  the  sea-otter  rook- 
eries are  more  jealously  guarded  than  diamond  mines. 
The  decreasing  hunt  has  brought  back  primitive 
methods.  Instead  of  firearms,  the  primitive  club  and 
net  and  spear  are  again  used,  giving  the  sea-otter  a 
fair  chance  against  his  antagonist  —  Man.  Except 
that  the  hunters  are  few  and  now  dress  in  San  Fran- 
cisco clothes,  they  go  to  the  hunt  in  the  same  old  way 
as  when  Baranof,  head  of  the  Russian  Fur  Company, 
led  his  battalions  out  in  companies  of  a  thousand  and 
two  thousand  "bidarkies"  —  walrus-skin  skiffs  taut 
as  a  drumhead,  with  seams  tallowed  and  an  oilskin 
wound  round  each  of  the  manholes,  so  that  the  boat 


68  VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

could  turn  a  somerset  in  the  water,  or  be  pitched  off  a 
rock  into  the  surf,  and  come  right  side  up  without 
taking  water,  paddler  erect. 

The  first  thing  the  hunter  had  to  look  to  was  boat 
and  hunting  gear.  Westward  of  Cook's  Inlet  and 
Kadiak  was  no  timber  but  driftwood,  and  the  tide 
wash  of  wrecks;  so  the  hunter,  who  set  out  on  the 
trail  of  the  pathless  sea,  framed  his  boat  on  the  bones 
of  the  whale.  There  were  two  kinds  of  boats  —  the 
long  ones,  for  from  twelve  to  twenty  men,  the  little 
skiffs  which  Eskimos  of  the  Atlantic  call  kyacks  - 
with  two  or  three,  seldom  more,  manholes.  Over 
the  whalebone  frame  was  stretched  the  wet  elastic 
hide  of  walrus  or  sea-lion.  The  big  boat  was  open  on 
top  like  a  Newfoundland  fisherman's  dory  or  French- 
man's bateau,  the  little  boat  covered  over  the  top 
except  for  the  manholes  round  which  were  wound  oil- 
skins to  keep  the  water  out  when  the  paddler  had 
seated  himself  inside.  Then  the  wet  skin  was  allowed 
to  dry  in  sunshine  and  wind.  Hot  seal  oil  and  tallow 
poured  over  the  seams  and  cracks,  calked  the  leaks. 
More  sunshine  and  wind,  double-bladed  paddles  for 
the  little  boats,  strong  oars  and  a  sail  for  the  big  ones, 
and  the  skiffs  were  ready  for  water.  Eastward  of 
Kadiak,  particularly  south  of  Sitka,  the  boats  might 
be  hollowed  trees,  carved  wooden  canoes,  or  dugouts  — 
not  half  so  light  to  ride  shallow,  tempestuous  seas  as 
the  skin  skiff  of  the  Aleut  hunter. 

We  supercilious  civilized  folk  laugh  at  the  odd  dress 


THE   SEA-OTTER   HUNTERS          69 

of  the  savage ;  but  it  was  exactly  adapted  to  the  need. 
The  otter  hunter  wore  the  fur  in,  because  that  was 
warmer;  and  the  skin  out,  because  cured  in  oil,  that 
was  waterproof;  and  the  chimney-pot  capote,  because 
that  tied  tight  enough  around  his  neck  kept  the  ice- 
water  from  going  down  his  back  when  the  bidarka 
turned  heels  up ;  and  the  skin  boots,  because  they,  too, 
were  waterproof;  and  the  sedge  grass  padding  in 
place  of  stockings,  because  it  protected  the  feet  from 
the  jar  of  rocks  in  wild  runs  through  surf  and  kelp 
after  the  game.  On  land,  the  skin  side  of  the  coats 
could  be  turned  in  and  the  fur  out, 

Oonalaska,  westward  of  the  Aleutian  chain  of  islands 
and  Kadiak,  just  south  of  the  great  Alaskan  peninsula, 
were  the  two  main  points  whence  radiated  the  hunting 
flotillas  for  the  sea-otter  grounds.  Formerly,  a  single 
Russian  schooner  or  packet  boat  would  lead  the  way 
with  a  procession  of  a  thousand  bidarkas.  Later, 
schooners,  thirty  or  forty  of  them,  gathered  the  hunters 
at  some  main  fur  post,  stowed  the  light  skin  kyacks  in 
piles  on  the  decks,  and  carried  the  Aleuts  to  the  otter 
grounds.  This  might  be  at  Atka,  where  the  finest 
otter  hunters  in  the  world  lived,  or  on  the  south  shore 
of  Oonalaska,  or  in  Cook's  Inlet  where  the  rip  of  the 
tide  runs  a  mill-race,  or  just  off  Kadiak  on  the  Saanach 
coast,  where  twenty  miles  of  beach  boulders  and  surf 
waters  and  little  islets  of  sea-kelp  provide  ideal  fields 
for  the  sea-otter.  Here  the  sweeping  tides  and  boom- 


70  VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

ing  back-wash  keep  up  such  a  roar  of  tumbling  seas, 
the  shy,  wary  otter,  alert  as  an  eagle,  do  not  easily  get 
scent  or  sound  of  human  intruder.  Surf  washes  out 
the  scent  of  the  man  track.  Surf  out-sounds  noise  of 
the  man  killer;  and  no  fires  are  lighted,  be  it  winter 
or  summer,  unless  the  wind  is  straight  from  the  south- 
ward; for  the  sea-otter  always  frequent  the  south 
shores.  The  only  provisions  on  the  carrying  schooner 
are  hams,  rancid  butter  or  grease,  some  rye  bread 
and  flour;  the  only  clothing,  what  the  Aleut  hunters 
wear. 

No  sooner  has  the  schooner  sheered  off  the  hunting- 
grounds,  than  the  Aleuts  are  over  decks  with  the  agility 
of  performing  monkeys,  the  schooner  captain  wishing 
each  good  luck,  the  eager  hunters  leaping  into  their 
bidarkas  following  the  lead  of  a  chief.  The  schooner 
then  returns  to  the  home  harbor,  leaving  the  hunters 
on  islands  bare  as  a  planed  board  for  two,  three,  four 
months.  On  the  Commander  Group,  otter  hunters 
are  now  restricted  to  the  use  of  the  net  alone,  but 
formerly  the  nature  of  the  hunting  was  determined 
entirely  by  the  weather.  If  a  tide  ran  with  heavy  surf 
and  wind  landward  to  conceal  sound  and  sight,  the 
hunters  lined  alongshore  of  the  kelp  beds  and  engaged 
in  the  hunt  known  as  surf-shooting.  Their  rifles  would 
carry  a  thousand  yards.  Whoever  saw  the  little  round 
black  head  bob  above  the  surface  of  the  water,  shot, 
and  the  surf  wash  carried  in  the  dead  body.  If  the 
weather  was  dead  calm,  fog  or  clear,  bands  of  twenty 


THE   SEA-OTTER    HUNTERS          71 

and  thirty  men  deployed  in  a  circle  to  spear  their 
quarry.  This  was  the  spearing-surround.  Or  if  such 
a  hurricane  gale  was  churning  the  sea  so  that  gusty 
spray  and  sleet  storm  washed  out  every  outline,  sweep- 
ing the  kelp  beds  naked  one  minute,  inundating  them 
with  mountainous  rollers  that  thundered  up  the  rocks 
the  next,  the  Aleut  hunters  risked  life,  scudded  out  on 
the  back  of  the  raging  storm,  now  riding  the  rollers, 
now  dipping  to  the  trough  of  the  sea,  now  scooting 
with  lightning  paddle-strokes  right  through  the  blasts 
of  spray  athwart  wave  wash  and  trough  —  straight  for 
the  kelp  beds  or  rocky  boulders,  where  the  sea-otter 
must  have  been  driven  for  refuge  by  the  storm.  This 
hunting  is  the  very  incarnation  of  the  storm  spirit 
itself,  for  the  wilder  the  gale,  the  more  sea-otter  have 
come  ashore;  the  less  likely  they  will  be  to  see  or 
hear  or  smell  the  hunter.  Gaff  or  paddle  in  hand,  the 
Aleut  leaps  from  rock  to  rock,  or  dashes  among 
the  tumbling  beds  of  tossed  kelp.  A  quick  blow  of 
the  bludgeon;  the  otter  never  knows  how  death  came. 
This  is  the  club  hunt.  But  where  the  shore  is  honey- 
combed with  caves  and  narrow  inlets  of  kelp  fields, 
is  a  safer  kind  of  hunting.  Huge  nets  now  made  of 
twine,  formerly  of  sinew,  with  wooden  floaters  above, 
iron  sinkers  below,  are  spread  athwart  the  kelp  fields. 
The  tide  sweeps  in,  washing  the  net  flat.  And  the  sea- 
otter  swim  in  with  the  tide.  The  tide  sweeps  out, 
washing  the  net  up,  but  the  otter  are  enmeshed  in  a 
tangle  that  holds  neck  and  feet.  This  is,  perhaps,  the 


72  VIKINGS   OF   THE.  PACIFIC 

best  kind  of  otter  hunting,  for  the  females  and  young 
can  be  thrown  back  in  the  sea. 

Barely  has  the  supply  schooner  dipped  over  the 
offing,  when  the  cockle-shell  bidarkas  skimming  over 
the  sea  make  for  the  shore  of  the  hunting-grounds. 
Camping  is  a  simple  matter,  for  no  fires  are  to  be  lighted, 
and  the  tenting  place  is  chosen  if  possible  on  the  north 
side  of  some  knoll.  If  it  is  warm  weather,  the  Aleut 
will  turn  his  skin  skiff  upside  down,  crawl  into  the 
hole  head  first  and  sleep  there.  Or  he  may  erect  the 
V-shaped  tent  such  as  the  prairie  tepee.  But  if  it  is 
cold,  he  has  a  better  plan  yet.  He  will  dig  a  hole  in  the 
ground  and  cover  over  the  top  with  sail-cloth.  Let  the 
wind  roar  above  and  the  ice  bang  the  shore  rocks, 
the  Aleut  swathed  in  furs  sleeps  sound  close  to  earth. 
If  driftwood  lines  the  shore,  he  is  in  luck;  for  he  props 
up  the  poles,  covers  them  with  furs,  and  has  what  might 
be  mistaken  for  a  wigwam,  except  that  these  Indians 
construct  their  tents  round-topped  and  always  turn 
the  skin  side  of  the  fur  out. 

For  provisions,  he  has  brought  very  little  from  the 
ship.  He  will  depend  on  the  winds  driving  in  a  dead 
whale,  or  on  the  fish  of  the  shore,  or  on  the  eggs  of  the 
sea-birds  that  nest  on  these  rocks  millions  upon  millions 
-  such  myriads  of  birds  they  seem  to  crowd  each  other 
for  foot  room,  and  the  noise  of  their  wings  is  like  a  great 
wind.1  The  Aleut  himself  is  what  any  race  of  men 

1  Sec  John  Burroughs's  account  of  birds  observed  during  the  Harriman  Expedition. 
Elliott  and  Stejenger  have  remarked  on  the  same  phenomenon. 


THE   SEA-OTTER   HUNTERS          73 

would  become  in  generations  of  such  a  life.  His  skin 
is  more  like  bronze  than  leather.  His  chest  is  like  a 
bellows,  but  his  legs  are  ill  developed  from  the  cramped 
posture  of  knees  in  the  manhole.  Indeed,  more  than 
knees  go  under  the  manhole.  When  pressed  for  room, 
the  Aleut  has  been  known  to  crawl  head  foremost, 
body  whole,  right  under  the  manhole  and  lie  there  prone 
between  the  feet  of  the  paddlers  with  nothing  between 
him  and  the  abysmal  depths  of  a  hissing  sea  but  the 
parchment  keel  of  the  bidarka,  thin  as  paper. 

How  do  these  thin  skin  boats  escape  wreckage  on  a 
sea  where  tide-rip  washes  over  the  reefs  all  summer 
and  ice  hummocks  sweep  out  from  the  shore  in  winter 
tempest  ?  To  begin  with,  the  frost  that  creates  the  ice 
clears  the  air  of  fog,  and  the  steel-shod  pole  either 
sheers  the  bidarka  off  from  the  ice,  or  the  ice  off  from 
the  bidarka.  Then,  when  the  fog  lies  knife-thick  over 
the  dangerous  rocks  in  summer  time,  there  is  a  certain 
signal  to  these  deep-sea  plunderers.  The  huge  Pacific 
walrus  —  the  largest  species  of  walrus  in  the  world  - 
lie  in  herds  of  hundreds  on  these  danger  rocks,  and  the 
walrus  snorts  through  the  gray  mist  like  a  continual 
fog-horn.  No  better  danger  signal  exists  among  the 
rocks  of  the  North  Pacific  than  this  same  snorting 
walrus,  who  for  all  his  noise  and  size  is  a  floundering 
coward.  The  great  danger  to  the  nutshell  skiffs  is 
from  becoming  ice-logged  when  the  sleet  storms  fall 
and  freeze;  and  for  the  rest,  the  sea  makes  small  matter 
of  a  hunter  more  or  less. 


74  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

No  landsman's  still-hunt  affords  the  thrilling  excite- 
ment of  the  otter  hunter's  spearing-surrounds.  Fif- 
teen or  twenty-five  little  skin  skiffs,  with  two  or  three 
men  in  each,  paddle  out  under  a  chief  elected  by  com- 
mon consent.  Whether  fog  or  clear,  the  spearing  is 
done  only  in  calm  weather.  The  long  line  of  bidarkas 
circles  silently  over  the  silver  sea.  Not  a  word  is  spoken, 
not  a  paddle  blade  allowed  to  click  against  the  bone 
gun'els  of  the  skiff.  Double-bladed  paddles  are  fre- 
quently used,  so  shift  of  paddle  is  made  from  side  to 
side  of  the  canoe  without  a  change  of  hands.  The 
skin  shallops  take  to  the  water  as  noiselessly  as  the 
glide  of  a  duck.  Yonder,  where  the  boulders  lie  mile 
on  mile  awash  in  the  surf,  kelp  rafts  —  forests  of  sea- 
weed —  lift  and  fall  with  the  rhythmical  wash  of  the 
tide.  Hither  the  otter  hunters  steer,  silent  as  shadows. 
The  circle  widens,  deploys,  forms  a  cordon  round  the 
outermost  rim  of  the  kelp  fields.  Suddenly  a  black 
object  is  seen  floating  on  the  surface  of  the  waters  — 
a  sea-otter  asleep.  Quick  as  flash,  the  steersman  lifts 
his  paddle.  Not  a  word  is  spoken,  but  so  keen  is  the 
hearing  of  the  sleeping  otter,  the  drip  of  the  lifted 
paddle  has  not  splashed  into  the  sea  before  the  otter 
has  awakened,  looked  and  dived  like  lightning  to  the 
bottom  of  the  sea  before  one  of  the  Aleut  hunters  can 
hurl  his  spear.  Silently,  not  a  whisper,  the  steers- 
man signals  again.  The  hunters  deploy  in  a  circle 
half  a  mile  broad  round  the  place  where  the  sea-otter 
disappeared;  for  they  know  that  in  fifteen  or  twenty 


THE   SEA-OTTER   HUNTERS          75 

minutes  the  animal  must  come  up  for  breath,  and  it 
cannot  run  farther  than  half  a  mile  under  sea  before 
it  reappears. 

Suddenly  somebody  sees  a  round  black-red  head 
poke  above  water,  perhaps  close  to  the  line  of  watchers. 
With  a  wild  shout,  the  nearest  bidarkas  dart  forward. 
Whether  the  spear-throw  has  hit  or  missed,  the  shout 
has  done  enough.  The  terrified  otter  dives  before  it 
has  breath.  Over  the  second  diving  spot  a  hunter  is 
stationed,  and  the  circle  narrows,  for  the  otter  must 
come  up  quicker  this  time.  It  must  have  breath. 
Again  and  again,  the  little  round  head  peeps  up. 
Again  the  shout  greets  it.  Again  the  lightning  dive. 
Sometimes  only  a  bubble  gurgling  to  the  top  of  the 
water  guides  the  watchers.  Presently  the  body  is  so 
full  of  gases  from  suppressed  breathing,  it  can  no 
longer  sink,  and  a  quick  spear-throw  secures  the  quarry. 
One  animal  against,  perhaps,  sixty  men.  Is  the  quest 
fair  ?  Yonder  thunders  the  surf  below  beetling  preci- 
pices. Then  the  tide  wash  comes  in  with  a  rip  like  a 
whirlpool,  or  the  ebb  sets  the  beach  combers  rolling  - 
lashing  billows  of  tumbling  waters  that  crash  together 
and  set  the  sheets  of  blinding  spray  shattering.  Or 
the  fog  comes  down  over  a  choppy  sea  with  a  whizzing 
wind  that  sets  the  whitecaps  flying  backward  like  a 
horse's  mane.  The  chase  may  have  led  farther  and 
farther  from  land.  As  long  as  the  little  black  head 
comes  up,  as  long  as  the  gurgling  bubble  tells  of  a 
struggling  breather  below,  the  hunters  follow,  be  it 


76  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

near  or  far,  till,  at  the  end  of  two  or  three  hours,  the 
exhausted  sea-otter  is  taken.  Perhaps  forty  men  have 
risked  their  lives  for  a  single  pelt  for  which  the  trader 
cannot  pay  more  than  forty  dollars;  for  he  must  have 
his  profit,  and  the  skin  must  be  dressed,  and  the  middle- 
men must  have  their  profit ;  so  that  if  it  sells  even  for 
eleven  hundred  dollars  in  London  —  though  the  aver- 
age is  nearer  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  —  the  Aleut 
is  lucky  to  receive  forty  or  fifty  dollars.  Day  after  day, 
three  months  at  a  time,  warm  or  cold,  not  daring  to 
light  fires  on  the  island,  the  Aleut  hunters  go  out  to  the 
spearing-surround,  till  the  schooner  returns  for  them 
from  the  main  post;  and  whether  the  hunt  is  harder 
on  man  or  beast  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  where 
the  hunting  battalions  used  to  rally  out  in  companies 
of  thousands,  they  to-day  go  forth  only  in  twenties 
and  forties.  True,  the  sea-otter  has  decreased  and  is 
almost  extinct  in  places ;  but  then,  where  game  laws 
protect  it,  as  in  the  Commander  Islands,  it  is  on  the 
increase,  and  as  for  the  Aleut  hunters  —  their  thou- 
sands lie  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea;  and  of  the  thousands 
who  rallied  forth  long  ago,  often  only  a  few  hundred 
returned. 

But  while  the  spearing-surround  was  chiefly  followed 
in  battalions  under  the  direction  of  a  trading  company, 
the  clubbing  was  done  by  the  individuals  —  the  daunt- 
less hunters,  who  scudded  out  in  twos  and  threes  in  the 
wake  of  the  blast,  lost  themselves  in  the  shattering  sheets 
of  spray,  with  the  wind  screaming  mad  riot  in  their  ears 


THE   SEA-OTTER   HUNTERS          77 

and  the  roily  rollers  running  a  mill-race  against  tide  and 
wind.  How  did  they  steer  their  cockle-shell  skiffs  — 
these  Vikings  of  the  North  Pacific ;  or  did  they  steer  at 
all,  or  only  fly  before  the  gale  on  the  wings  of  the  mad 
north  winds  ?  Who  can  tell  ?  The  feet  of  man  leave 
earth  sometimes  when  the  spirit  rides  out  reckless  of 
land  or  sea,  or  heaven  or  hell,  and  these  plunderers 
of  the  deep  took  no  reckoning  of  life  or  death  when  they 
rode  out  on  the  gale,  where  the  beach  combers  shat- 
tered up  the  rocks,  and  the  creatures  of  the  sea  came 
huddling  landward  to  take  refuge  among  the  kelp  rafts. 

Tossing  the  skin  skiffs  high  and  dry  on  some  rock, 
with  perhaps  the  weight  of  a  boulder  to  keep  them  from 
blowing  away,  the  hunters  rushed  off  to  the  surf  wash 
armed  only  with  a  stout  stick. 

The  otters  must  be  approached  away  from  the  wind, 
and  the  noise  of  the  surf  will  deaden  the  hunter's  ap- 
proach; so  beating  their  way  against  hurricane  gales 
—  winds  that  throw  them  from  their  feet  at  times  — 
scrambling  over  rocks  slippery  as  glass  with  ice,  run- 
ning out  on  long  reefs  where  the  crash  of  spray  con- 
fuses earth  and  air,  wading  waist-deep  in  ice  slush, 
the  hunters  dash  out  for  the  kelp  beds  and  rocks  where 
the  otter  are  asleep.  Clubbing  sounds  brutal,  but  this 
kind  of  hunting  is,  perhaps,  the  most  merciful  of  all  — 
to  the  animal,  not  the  man.  The  otter  is  asleep.  The 
gale  conceals  the  approaching  danger.  One  blow  of 
the  gaff,  and  the  otter  never  awakes.  In  this  way 
have  three  hunters  killed  as  many  as  a  hundred  otter 


78  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

in  two  hours;  and  in  this  way  have  the  thousands  of 
Aleutian  otter  hunters,  who  used  to  throng  the  inlets  of 
the  northern  islands,  perished  and  dwindled  to  a  popu- 
lation of  poverty  stricken,  scattered  men. 

What  were  the  rewards  for  all  this  risk  of  life  ?  A 
glance  at  the  records  of  the  old  fur  companies  tells 
why  the  Russian  and  American  and  English  traders 
preferred  sea-otter  to  the  gold  mines  of  the  Spaniards 
in  Mexico.  Less  than  ten  years  after  Cook's  crew 
had  sold  their  sea-otter  for  ten  thousand  dollars,  the 
East  India  Company  sold  six  hundred  sea-otter  for 
from  sixty  to  one  hundred  dollars  each.  Two  years 
later,  Portlock  and  Dixon  sold  their  cargo  for  fifty- 
five  thousand  dollars;  and  when  it  is  remembered 
that  two  hundred  sea-otter  —  twelve  thousand  dollars' 
worth  at  the  lowest  average  —  were  sometimes  got 
from  the  Nootka  tribes  for  a  few  dollars'  worth  of  old 
chisel  iron  —  the  profit  can  be  estimated. 

In  1785  five  thousand  sea-otter  were  sold  in  China 
for  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  dollars.  A  capital 
of  fifty  thousand  usually  yielded  three  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars;  that  is  —  if  the  ships  escaped  the  dangers 
of  hostile  Indians  and  treacherous  seas.  What  the 
Russians  made  from  sea-otter  will  probably  never  be 
known ;  for  so  many  different  companies  were  engaged 
in  the  trade;  and  a  hundred  years  ago,  as  many  as 
fifteen  thousand  Indian  hunters  went  out  for  the  Rus- 
sians yearly.  One  ship,  the  year  after  Bering's  wreck, 


THE   SEA-OTTER   HUNTERS          79 

is  known  to  have  made  half  a  million  dollars  from  its 
cargo.  By  definite  figures  —  not  including  returns  not 
tabulated  in  the  fur  companies  —  two  hundred  thousand 
sea-otter  were  taken  for  the  Russians  in  half  a  century. 
Just  before  the  United  States  took  over  Alaska,  Russia 
was  content  with  four  hundred  sea-otter  a  year;  but 
by  1875  the  Americans  were  getting  three  thousand  a 
year.  Those  gathered  at  Kadiak  have  totalled  as 
many  as  six  thousand  in  a  year  during  the  heyday  of 
the  hunt,  at  Oonalaska  three  thousand,  on  the  Prybi- 
lofs  now  noted  for  their  seal,  five  thousand.  In  1785 
Cook's  Inlet  yielded  three  thousand;  in  1812,  only  one 
hundred.  Yakutat  gave  two  thousand  in  1794,  only 
three  hundred,  six  years  later.  Fifteen  thousand  were 
gathered  at  Sitka  in  1804,  only  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thirty  years^  later.  Of  course  the  Russians  obtained 
such  results  only  by  a  system  of  musket,  bludgeon,  and 
outrage,  that  are  repellent  to  the  modern  mind.  Women 
were  seized  as  hostages  for  a  big  hunt.  Women  were 
even  murdered  as  a  punishment  for  small  returns. 
Men  were  sacrificed  like  dogs  by  the  "promyshleniki" 
-  riffraff  blackguard  Russian  hunters  from  the  Sibe- 
rian exile  population ;  but  this  is  a  story  of  outrageous 
wrong  followed  by  its  own  terrible  and  unshunnable 
Nemesis  which  shall  be  told  by  itself. 


CHAPTER   IV 

1760-1770 
THE   OUTLAW   HUNTERS 

The  American  Coast  becomes  the  Great  Rendezvous  for  Siberian 
Criminals  and  Political  Exiles  —  Beyond  Reach  of  Law,  Cossacks 
and  Criminals  perpetrate  Outrages  on  the  Indians  —  The  Indians' 
Revenge  wipes  out  Russian  Forts  in  America  —  The  Pursuit  of 
Four  Refugee  Russians  from  Cave  to  Cave  over  the  Sea  at  Night 
—  How  they  escape  after  a  Year's  Chase 

"  Go d  was  high  in  the  Heavens,  and  the  Czar  was  far 
away,"  as  the  Russians  say,  and  the  Siberian  exiles  - 
coureurs  of  the  sea  —  who  flocked  to  the  west  coast 
of  America  to  hunt  the  sea-otter  after  Bering's  dis- 
coveries in  1741  took  small  thought  and  recked  no  con- 
sequences of  God  or  the  Czar.  . 

They  timbered  their  crazy  craft  from  green  wood  in 
Kamchatka,  or  on  the  Okhotsk  Sea,  or  among  the  for- 
ests of  Siberian  rivers.  They  lashed  the  rude  planks 
together,  hoisted  a  sail  of  deer  hide  above  a  deck  of, 
perhaps,  sixty  feet,  and  steering  by  instinct  across  seas 
as  chartless  as  the  forests  where  French  coureurs 
ran,  struck  out  from  Asia  for  America  with  wilder 

80 


THE    OUTLAW    HUNTERS  81 

dreams  of  plunder  than  ever  Spanish  galleon  or  English 
freebooter  hoped  coasting  the  high  seas. 

The  crews  were  criminals  with  the  brands  of  their 
crimes  worn  uncovered,  banded  together  by  some 
Siberian  merchant  who  had  provided  goods  for  trade, 
and  set  adrift  under  charge  of  half  a  dozen  Cossacks 
supposed  to  keep  order  and  collect  tribute  of  one-tenth 
as  homage  from  American  Indians  for  the  Czar.  Eng- 
lish buccaneers  didn't  scruple  as  to  blood  when  they 
sacked  Spanish  cities  for  Spanish  gold.  These  Rus- 
sian outlaws  scrupled  less,  when  their  only  hope  of 
bettering  a  desperate  exile  was  the  booty  of  precious 
furs  plundered,  or  bludgeoned,  or  exacted  as  tribute 
from  the  Indians  of  Northwest  America.  The  plunder, 
when  successful,  or  trade,  if  the  crazy  planks  did  not  go 
to  pieces  above  some  of  the  reefs  that  cut  up  the  North 
Pacific,  was  halved  between  outfitter  and  crew.  If 
the  cargo  amounted  to  half  a  million  dollars  in  modern 
money  —  as  one  of  Drusenin's  first  trips  did  —  then 
a  quarter  of  a  million  was  a  tidy  sum  to  be  divided 
among  a -crew  of,  say,  thirty  or  forty.  Often  as  not, 
the  long-planked  single-master  fell  to  pieces  in  a  gale, 
when  the  Russians  went  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  or 
stranded  among  the  Aleutian  Islands  westward  of 
Alaska,  when  the  castaways  took  up  comfortable 
quarters  among  the  Indians,  who  knew  no  other  code 
of  existence  than  the  rights  of  the  strong;  and  the  Rus- 
sians with  their  firearms  seemed  strong,  indeed,  to  the 

O7 

Aleuts.     As  long  as  the  newcomer  demanded  only  furs, 


82  VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

on  his  own  terms  of  trade  —  the  Indians  acquiesced. 
Their  one  hope  was  to  become  strong  as  the  Russians 
by  getting  iron  in  "toes"  -bands  two  inches  thick, 
two  feet  long.  It  was  that  ideal  state,  which  finical 
philosophers  describe  as  the  "survival  of  the  fit,"  and  it 
worked  well  till  the  other  party  to  the  arrangement 
resolved  he  would  play  the  same  game  and  become  fit, 
too,  when  there  resulted  a  cataclysm  of  bloodshed. 
The  Indians  bowed  the  neck  submissively  before  op- 
pression. Abuse,  cruelty,  outrage,  accumulated  on 
the  heads  of  the  poor  Aleuts.  They  had  reached  the 
fine  point  where  it  is  better  for  the  weak  to  die  trying 
to  overthrow  strength,  than  to  live  under  the  iron  heel 
of  brute  oppression. 

The  immediate  cause  of  revolt  is  a  type  of  all  that 
preceded  it.1  Running  out  for  a  thousand  miles  from 
the  coast  of  Alaska  is  the  long  chain  of  Aleutian  Isl- 
ands linking  across  the  Pacific  toward  Asia.  Oona- 
laska,  the  most  important  and  middle  of  these,  is  as 
far  from  Oregon  as  Oregon  is  from  New  York.  Near 
Oonalaska  were  the  finest  sea-otter  fields  in  -the  world ; 
and  the  Aleutians  numbered  twenty  thousand  hunters 
—  men,  women,  children  —  born  to  the  light  skin 
boat  as  plainsmen  were  born  to  the  saddle.  On  Oona- 
laska and  its  next-door  neighbor  westward  were  at 
least  ten  thousand  of  these  Indian  otter  hunters,  when 
Russia  first  sent  her  ships  to  America.  Bassof  came 
soonest  after  Bering's  discovery;  and  he  carried  back 

1  See  Coxe't  Diuoveriet  of  the  Ruttiani. 


THE   OUTLAW   HUNTERS  83 

on  each  of  three  trips  to  the  Commander  Islands  a 
cargo  of  furs  worth  from  seventy-five  thousand  to  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  in  modern  money.  The 
effect  on  the  Siberian  mind  was  the  same  as  a  gold 
find.  All  the  riffraff  adventurers  of  Siberia  swarmed 
to  the  west  coast  of  America. 

We  have  only  the  Russian  version  of  the  story  - 
not  the  Indians'  —  and  may  infer  that  we  have  the 
side  most  favorable  to  Russia.  When  booty  of  half  a 
million  was  to  be  had  for  the  taking,  what  Siberian 
exiles  would  permit  an  Indian  village  to  stand  between 
them  and  wealth  ?  At  first  only  children  were  seized 
as  hostages  of  good  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  Indians 
while  the  white  hunters  coasted  the  islands.  Then 
daughters  and  wives  were  lured  and  held  on  the  ships, 
only  to  be  returned  when  the  husbands  and  fathers 
came  back  with  a  big  hunt  for  the  white  masters. 
Then  the  men  were  shot  down  ;  safer  dead,  thought 

7  7  O 

the  Russians;  no  fear  of  ambush  or  surprise;  and  the 
women  were  held  as  slaves  to  be  knouted  and  done  to 
death  at  their  masters'  pleasure. 

In  1745  —  four  years  after  Russia's  discovery  of 
western  America  —  a  whole  village  in  Attoo  was  de- 
stroyed so  that  the  Russians  could  seize  the  women  and 
children  fleeing  for  hiding  to  the  hills.  The  next  year 
Russians  were  caught  putting  poison  in  the  food  of 
another  village:  the  men  ate  first  among  the  Indians. 
The  women  would  be  left  as  slaves  to  the  Russians; 
and  these  same  Russians  carried  a  pagan  boy  home  to 


84  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

be  baptized  in  the  Christian  faith;  for  the  little  con- 
vert could  come  back  to  the  Aleutian  Islands  as  inter- 
preter. It  was  as  thorough  a  scheme  of  subjugation 
as  the  wolf  code  of  existence  could  have  entailed. 

The  culmination  came  with  the  crew  of  Betshevin, 
a  Siberian  merchant,  in  1760.  There  were  forty  Rus- 
sians, including  Cossacks,  and  twenty  other  Asiatic 
hunters  and  sailors.  Four  of  the  merchant's  agents 
went  along  to  enforce  honest  returns.  Sergeant  Push- 
kareff  of  the  Cossacks  was  there  to  collect  tribute 
from  Russia's  Indian  subjects  on  the  west  coast  of 
America.  The  ship  was  evidently  better  than  the 
general  run,  with  ample  room  in  the  hold  for  cargo, 
and  wide  deck  room  where  the  crew  slept  in  ham- 
mocks without  cover  —  usually  a  gruff,  bearded, 
ragged,  vermin-infested  horde.  The  vessel  touched  at 
Oomnak,  after  having  met  a  sister  ship,  perhaps  with 
an  increase  of  aggressiveness  toward  the  natives  owing 
to  the  presence  of  these  other  Russians  under  Alixei 
Drusenin;  and  passed  on  eastward  to  the  next  otter 
resort,  Oonalaska  Island. 

Oonalaska  is  like  a  human  hand  spread  out,  with 
the  fingers  northeast,  the  arm  end  down  seventy  miles 
long  toward  Oomnak  Island.  The  entire  broken 
coast  probably  reaches  a  circuit  of  over  two  hundred 
miles.  Down  the  centre  and  out  each  spur  are 
high  volcanic  mountains,  two  of  them  smoking  vol- 
canoes, all  pitted  with  caves  and  hot  springs  whose 
course  can  be  traced  in  winter  by  the  runnels  of  steam 


THE   OUTLAW   HUNTERS  85 

down  the  mountain  side.  On  the  south  side,  reefs 
line  all  approach.  North,  east,  and  west  are  countless 
abrupt  inlets  opening  directly  into  the  heart  of  the 
mountains  down  whose  black  cliffs  shatter  plumes  of 
spray  and  cataract.  Not  a  tree  grows  on  the  island. 
From  base  to  summit  the  hills  are  a  velvet  sward, 
willow  shrubs  the  size  of  one's  finger,  grass  waist  high, 
and  such  a  wealth  of  flowers  —  P°PP7  fields,  anemones, 
snowdrops,  rhododendrons  —  that  one  might  be  in  a 
southern  climate  instead  of  close  proximity  to  frozen 
zones.  Fogs  wreathe  the  island  three-quarters  of  the 
time;  and  though  snow  lies  five  feet  deep  in  winter, 
and  such  blizzards  riot  in  from  the  north  as  would  tear 
trees  up  by  the  roots,  and  drive  all  human  beings  to 
their  underground  dwellings,  it  is  never  cold,  never 
below  zero,  and  the  harbors  are  always  open.  Whal- 
ing, fishing,  fur  hunting  —  those  were  the  occupations 
of  the  islanders  then,  as  now. 

Here,  then,  came  PushkarefF  in  1762  after  two  years' 
cruising  about  the  Aleutian  Islands.  The  natives  are 
friendly,  thinking  to  obtain  iron,  and  knives,  and  fire- 
arms like  the  other  islanders  who  have  traded  with  the 
Russians.  Children  are  given  as  hostages  of  good 
conduct  for  the  Oonalaskan  men,  who  lead  the  Rus- 
sians off  to  the  hunt,  coasting  from  point  to  point. 
PushkarefF,  the  Cossack,  himself  goes  off  with 
twenty  men  to  explore ;  but  somehow  things  go  wrong 
at  the  native  villages  on  this  trip.  The  hostages  find 
they  are  not  guests,  but  slaves.  Anyway,  Betshevin's 


86  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

agent  is  set  upon  and  murdered.  Two  more  Russians 
are  speared  to  death  under  PushkarefFs  eyes,  two 
wounded,  and  the  Cossack  himself,  with  his  fourteen 
men,  forced  to  beat  a  hasty  retreat  back  to  ships  and 
huts  on  the  coast.  Here,  strange  enough,  things  have 
gone  wrong,  too !  More  women  and  children  object- 
ing to  their  masters'  pleasure  —  slavery,  the  knout,  the 
branding  iron,  death  by  starvation  and  abuse.  Two 
Russians  have  been  slain  bathing  in  the  hot  springs 
near  Makushin  Volcano,  four  murdered  at  the  huts, 
four  wounded ;  and  the  barrack  is  burned  to  the 
ground.  Promptly  the  Cossack  wreaks  vengeance  by 
slaughtering  seven  of  the  hostages  on  the  spot ;  but  he 
deems  it  wise  to  take  refuge  on  his- "ship,  weigh  anchor 
and  slip  out  to  sea  carrying  with  him  by  way  of  a  lesson 
to  the  natives,  two  interpreters,  three  boys,  and  twenty- 
five  women,  two  of  whom  die  of  cruelty  before  the 
ship  is  well  out  of  Oonalaskan  waters. 

He  may  have  intended  dropping  the  captives  at 
some  near  island  on  his  way  westward ;  for  only  blind 
rage  could  have  rendered  him  so  indifferent  to  their 
fate  as  to  carry  such  a  cargo  of  human  beings  back  to 
the  home  harbor  of  Kamchatka.  Meanwhile  a  hurri- 
cane caught  PushkarefFs  ship,  chopping  the  wave  tops 
off  and  driving  her  ahead  under  bare  poles.  When 
the  gale  abated,  the  ship  was  off  Kamchatka's  shore 
and  the  Cossack  in  a  quandary  about  entering  the 
home  port  with  proofs  of  his  cruelty  in  the  cowering 
group  of  Indian  women  huddled  above  the  deck. 


THE    OUTLAW    HUNTERS  87 

On  pretence  of  gathering  berries,  six  sailors  were 
landed  with  fourteen  women.  Two  watched  their 
chance  and  dashed  for  liberty  in  the  hills.  On  the 
way  back  to  the  ship,  one  woman  was  brained  to  death 
by  a  sailor,  Gorelin ;  seeing  which,  the  others  on  board 
the  jolly-boat  took  advantage  of  the  confusion,  sprang 
overboard,  and  suicided.  But  there  were  still  a  dozen 
hostages  on  the  ship.  These  might  relate  the  crime 
of  their  companions'  murder.  It  was  an  old  trick  out 
of  an  ugly  predicament  —  destroy  the  victim  in  order 
to  dodge  retribution,  or  torture  it  so  it  would  destroy 
itself.  Fourteen  had  been  tortured  into  suicide.  The 
rest  Pushkareff  seized,  bound,  and  threw  into  the  sea. 

To  be  sure,  on  official  investigation,  Betshevin,  the 
Siberian  merchant,  was  subjected  to  penal  tortures  for 
this  crime  on  his  ship;  and  an  imperial  decree  put  an 
end  to  free  trade  among  the  fur  hunters  to  America. 
Henceforth  a  government  permit  must  be  obtained; 
but  that  did  not  undo  the  wrong  to  the  Aleutian  Isl- 
anders. Primal  instincts,  unhampered  by  law,  have 
a  swift,  sure,  short-cut  to  justice;  to  the  fine  equipoise 
between  weak  and  strong.  It  was  two  years  before 
punishment  was  meted  out  by  the  Russian  govern- 
ment for  this  crime.  What  did  the  Aleut  Indian  care 
for  the  law's  slow  jargon  ?  His  only  law  was  self- 
preservation.  His  furs  had  been  plundered  from  him; 
his  hunting-fields  overrun  by  brigands  from  he  knew 
not  where ;  his  home  outraged ;  his  warriors  poisoned, 
bludgeoned,  done  to  death;  his  women  and  children 


88  VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

kidnapped  to  lifelong  slavery;  the  very  basic,  brute 
instincts  of  his  nature  tantalized,  baited,  tortured  to 
dare ! 

It  was  from  January  to  September  of  1762,  that 
Pushkareff  had  run  his  mad  course  of  outrage  on 
Oonalaska  Island.  It  was  in  September  of  the  same 
year,  that  four  other  Russian  ships,  all  unconscious  of 
the  reception  PushkarefFs  evil  doings  had  prepared 
for  them,  left  Kamchatka  for  the  Aleutian  Islands. 
Each  of  the  ships  was  under  a  commander  who  had 
been  to  the  islands  before  and  dealt  fairly  by  the 
Indians. 

Betshevin's  ship  with  Pushkareff,  the  Cossack, 
reached  Kamchatka  September  25.  On  the  6th  there 
had  come  to  winter  at  the  harbor  a  ship  under  the 
same  Alexei  Drusenin,  who  had  met  Pushkareff  the 
year  before  on  the  way  to  Oonalaska.  Drusenin  was 
outward  bound  and  must  have  heard  the  tales  told  of 
PushkarefFs  crew;  but  the  latter  had  brought  back 
in  all  nearly  two  thousand  otter,  —  half  sent  by  Druse- 
nin, half  brought  by  himself,  —  and  Oonalaska  be- 
came the  lodestar  of  the  otter  hunters.  The  spring  of 
'63  found  Drusenin  coasting  the  Aleutians.  Sure 
enough,  others  had  heard  news  of  the  great  find  of  the 
new  hunting-grounds.  Three  other  Russian  vessels 
were  on  the  grounds  before  him,  Glottoff  and  Med- 
vedeff  at  Oomnak,  Korovin  halfway  up  Oonalaska. 
No  time  for  Drusenin  to  lose !  A  spy  sent  out  came 
back  with  the  report  that  every  part  of  Oomnak  and 


THE   OUTLAW   HUNTERS  89 

Oonalaska  was  being  thoroughly  hunted  except  the 
extreme  northeast,  where  the  mountain  spurs  of  Oona- 
laska stretch  out  in  the  sea  like  a  hand.  Up  to  the 
northeast  end,  then,  where  the  tide-rip  thunders  up 
the  rock  wall  like  an  inverted  cataract,  posts  Drusenin 
where  he  anchors  his  ship  in  Captain  Harbor,  and  has 
winter  quarters  built  before  snow-fall  of  '63. 

An  odd  thing  was  —  the  Indian  chiefs  became  so 
very  friendly  they  voluntarily  brought  hostages  of  good 
conduct  to  Drusenin.  Surely  Drusenin  was  in  luck ! 
The  best  otter-hunting  grounds  in  the  world  !  A  har- 
bor as  smooth  as  glass,  mountain-girt,  sheltered  as  a 
hole  in  a  wall,  right  in  the  centre  of  the  hunting-grounds, 
yet  shut  off  from  the  rioting  north  winds  that  shook  the 
rickety  vessels  to  pieces !  And  best  of  all,  along  the 
sandy  shore  between  the  ship  and  the  mountains  that 
receded  inland  tier  on  tier  into  the  clouds  —  the  dome- 
roofed,  underground  dwellings  of  two  or  three  thou- 
sand native  hunters  ready  to  risk  the  surf  of  the  otter 
hunt  at  Drusenin's  beck !  Just  to  make  sure  of  safety 
after  Pushkareff's  losses  of  ten  men  on  this  island,  Dru- 
senin exchanges  a  letter  or  two  with  the  commanders 
of  those  other  three  Russian  vessels.  Then  he  laid 
his  plans  for  the  winter's  hunt.  But  so  did  the  Aleut 
Indians;  and  their  plans  were  for  a  man-hunt  of  every 
Russian  within  the  limits  of  Oonalaska. 

A  curious  story  is  told  of  how  the  Aleuts  arranged 
to  have  the  uprising  simultaneous  and  certain.  A 
bunch  of  sticks  was  carried  to  the  chief  of  every  tribe. 


90  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

These  were  burned  one  a  day,  like  the  skin  wick  in  the 
seal  oil  of  the  Aleut's  stone  lamp.  When  the  last 
stick  had  burned,  the  Aleuts  were  to  rise. 

Now,  the  northeast  coast  was  like  the  fingers  of  a 
hand.  Drusenin  had  anchored  between  two  moun- 
tain spurs  like  fingers.  Eastward,  across  the  next 
mountain  spur  was  another  village  —  Kalekhta,  of 
some  forty  houses;  eastward  of  Kalekhta,  again,  ten 
miles  across,  another  village  of  seventy  families  on  the 
island  of  Inalook.  Drusenin  decided  to  divide  his 
crew  into  three  hunting  parties :  one  of  nine  men  to 
guard  the  ship  and  trade  with  the  main  village  of  Cap- 
tain Harbor;  a  second  of  eleven,  to  cross  to  the  native 
huts  at  Kalekhta ;  a  third  of  eleven,  to  cross  the  hills, 
and  paddle  out  to  the  little  island  of  Inalook.  To  the 
island  ten  miles  off  shore,  Drusenin  went  himself, 
with  Korelin,  a  wrecked  Russian  whom  he  had  picked 
up  on  the  voyage.  On  the  way  they  must  have  passed 
all  three  mountains,  that  guard  the  harbor  of  Oona- 
laska,  the  waterfalls  that  pour  over  the  cliffs  near 
Kalekhta,  and  the  little  village  itself  where  eleven  men 
remained  to  build  huts  for  the  winter.  From  the  vil- 
lage to  the  easternmost  point  was  over  quaking  moss 
ankle-deep,  or  through  long,  rank  grass,  waist-high  and 
water-rotted  with  sea-fog.  Here  they  launched  their 
boat  of  sea-lion  skin  on  a  bone  frame,  and  pulled 
across  a  bay  of  ten  miles  to  the  farthermost  hunting- 
grounds.  Again,  the  natives  overwhelm  Drusenin 
with  kindness.  The  Russian  keeps  his  sentinels  as 


THE    OUTLAW    HUNTERS  91 

vigilant  as  ever  pacing  before  the  doors  of  the  hut; 
but  he  goes  unguarded  and  unharmed  among  the 
native  dwellings.  Perhaps,  poor  Drusenin  was  not 
above  swaggering  a  little,  belted  in  the  gay  uniform 
Russian  officers  loved  to  wear,  to  the  confounding  of 
the  poor  Aleut  who  looked  on  the  pistols  in  belt,  the 
cutlass  dangling  at  heel,  the  bright  shoulder  straps 
and  colored  cuffs,  as  insignia  of  a  power  almighty. 
Anyway,  after  Drusenin  had  sent  five  hunters  out  in 
the  fields  to  lay  fox-traps,  early  in  the  morning  of 
December  4,  he  set  out  with  a  couple  of  Cossack  friends 
to  visit  a  native  house.  Korelin,  the  rescued  castaway, 
and  two  other  men  kept  guard  at  the  huts.1 

At  that  time,  and  until  very  recently,  the  Aleuts' 
winter  dwelling  was  a  domed,  thatched  roof  over  a 
cellar  excavation  three  or  four  feet  deep,  circular  and 
big  enough  to  lodge  a  dozen  families.  The  entrance 
to  this  was  a  low-roofed,  hall-like  annex,  dark  as 
night,  leading  with  a  sudden  pitch  downward  into  the 
main  circle.  Now,  whether  the  Aleut  had  counted 
burning  fagots,  or  kept  tally  some  other  way,  the 
count  was  up.  Barely  had  Drusenin  stepped  into  the 
dark  of  the  inner  circle,  when  a  blow  clubbed  down  on 
his  skull  that  felled  him  to  earth.  The  Cossack,  com- 
ing second,  had  stumbled  over  the  prostrate  body  be- 
fore either  had  any  suspicion  of  danger;  and  in  a 

1  Some  of  the  old  records  spell  the  name  of  this  wrecked  Russian  "  Korelin,"  as 
if  it  were  "Gorelin,"  the  sailor,  of  Pushkareff's  crew,  who  brained  the  Indian  girl  5 
I  am  unable  to  determine  whether  "  Korelin  "  and  "  Gorelin  "  are  the  same  man  01 
not.  If  so,  then  the  punishment  came  home  indeed. 


92  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

second,  both  were  cut  to  pieces  by  knives  traded  to 
the  Indians  the  day  before  for  otter  skins. 

Shevyrin,  the  third  man,  happened  to  be  carrying 
an  axe.  One  against  a  score,  he  yet  kept  his  face  to  the 
enemy,  beat  a  retreat  backward  striking  right  and 
left  with  the  axe,  then  turned  and  fled  for  very  life, 
with  a  shower  of  arrows  and  lances  falling  about  him, 
that  drenched  him  in  his  own  blood.  Already  a 
crash  of  muskets  told  of  battle  at  the  huts.  More 
dead  than  alive,  the  pursued  Russian  turned  but  to 
strike  his  assailants  back.  Then,  he  was  at  the  huts 
almost  stumbling  over  the  man  who  had  probably 
been  doing  sentinel  duty  but  was  now  under  the  spears 
of  the  crowd  —  when  the  hut  door  opened;  and  Korelin, 
the  Russian,  dashed  out  flourishing  a  yard-long  bear 
knife  under  protection  of  the  other  guard's  musket 
fire  from  the  window,  slashed  to  death  two  of  the 
nearest  Indians,  cut  a  swath  that  sent  the  others  scat- 
tering, seized  the  two  wounded  men,  dragged  them 
inside  the  hut,  and  slammed  the  door  to  the  enraged 
yells  of  the  baffled  warriors. 

Some  one  has  said  that  Oonalaska  and  Oomnak  are 
the  smelting  furnaces  of  America.  Certainly,  the 
volcanic  caves  supplied  sulphur  that  the  natives  knew 
how  to  use  as  match  lighters.  The  savages  were  with- 
out firearms,  but  might  have  burned  out  the  Russians 
had  it  not  been  for  the  constant  fusillade  of  musketry 
from  door  and  roof  and  parchment  windows  of  the 
hut.  Two  of  the  Russians  were  wounded  and  weak 


THE    OUTLAW    HUNTERS  93 

from  loss  of  blood.  The  other  two  never  remitted 
their  guard  day  or  night  for  four  days,  neither  sleeping 
nor  eating,  till  the  wounded  pair,  having  recovered 
somewhat,  seized  pistols  and  cutlasses,  waited  till  a 
quelling  of  the  musketry  tempted  the  Indians  near, 
then  sallied  out  with  a  flare  of  their  pistols,  that  dropped 
three  Aleuts  on  the  spot,  wounded  others,  and  drove 
the  rest  to  a  distance.  But  in  the  sortie,  there  had 
been  flaunted  in  their  very  faces,  the  coats  and  caps 
and  daggers  of  the  five  hunters  Drusenin  had  sent  fox 
trapping.  Plainly,  the  fox  hunters  had  been  mas- 
sacred. The  four  men  were  alone  surrounded  by 
hundreds  of  hostiles,  ten  miles  from  the  shores  of 
Oonalaska,  twenty  from  the  other  hunting  detach- 
ments and  the  ship.  But  water  was  becoming  a  des- 
perate need.  To  stay  cooped  up  in  the  hut  was  to  be 
forced  into  surrender.  Their  only  chance  was  to  risk 
all  by  a  dash  from  the  island.  Dark  was  gathering. 
Through  the  shadowy  dusk  watched  the  Aleuts;  but 
the  pointed  muskets  of  the  two  wounded  men  kept 
hostiles  beyond  distance  of  spear-tossing,  while  the 
other  two  Russians  destroyed  what  they  could  not 
carry  away,  hauled  down  their  skin  boat  to  the  water 
loaded  with  provisions,  ammunition,  and  firearms, 
then  under  guard  of  levelled  pistols,  pulled  ofF  in  the 
darkness  across  the  sea,  heaving  and  thundering  to 
the  night  tide. 

But   the   sea   was   the   lesser   danger.     Once   away 
from  the  enemy,  the  four  fugitives  pulled  for  dear  life 


94  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

across  the  tumbling  waves  —  ten  miles  the  way  they 
went,  one  account  says  —  to  the  main  shore  of  Oona- 
laska.  It  was  pitch  dark.  When  they  reached  the 
shore,  they  could  neither  hear  nor  see  a  sign  of  life; 
but  the  moss  trail  through  the  snows  had  probably 
become  well  beaten  to  the  ship  by  this  time  —  four 
months  from  Drusenin's  landing  —  or  else  the  fugi- 
tives found  their  way  by  a  kind  of  desperation;  for 
before  daybreak  they  had  run  within  shouting  distance 
of  the  second  detachment  of  hunters  stationed  at 
Kalekhta.  Not  a  sound  !  Not  a  light !  Perhaps  they 
had  missed  their  way !  Perhaps  the  Indians  on  the 
main  island  are  still  friendly !  Shevyrin  or  Korelin 
utters  a  shout,  followed  by  the  signal  of  a  musket  shot 
for  that  second  party  of  hunters  to  come  out  and  help. 
Scarcely  had  the  crash  died  over  the  snows,  when  out 
of  the  dark  leaped  a  hundred  lances,  a  hundred  faces, 
a  hundred  shrieking,  bloodthirsty  savages.  Now  they 
realize  the  mistake  of  having  landed,  of  having  aban- 
doned the  skin  boat  back  on  the  beach  there  \  But  no 
time  to  retrace  steps !  Only  a  wild  dash  through  the 
dark,  catching  by  each  other  to  keep  together,  up  to  a 
high  precipitous  rock  they  know  is  somewhere  here, 
with  the  sea  behind,  sheer  drop  on  each  side,  and  but 
one  narrow  approach !  Here  they  make  their  stand, 
muskets  and  sword  in  hand,  beating  the  assailants 
back,  wherever  a  stealthy  form  comes  climbing  up  the 
rock  to  hurl  spear  or  lance !  Presently,  a  well-directed 
fusillade  drives  the  savages  off!  While  night  still  hid 


95 

them,  the  four  fugitives  scrambled  down  the  side  of 
the  rock  farthest  from  the  savages,  and  ran  for  the 
roadstead  where  the  ship  had  anchored. 

As  dawn  comes  up  over  the  harbor  something  catches 
the  attention  of  the  runners.  It  is  the  main  hatch,  the 
planking,  the  mast  poles  of  the  ship,  drawn  up  and 
scattered  on  the  beach.  Drusenin's  ship  has  been 
destroyed.  The  crew  is  massacred;  they,  alone,  have 
escaped ;  and  the  nearest  help  is  one  of  those  three  other 
Russian  ships  anchored  somewhere  seventy  miles  west. 
Without  waiting  to  look  more,  the  three  men  ran  for 
the  mountains  of  the  interior,  found  hiding  in  one  of  the 
deep-grassed  ravines,  scooped  out  a  hole  in  the  sand, 
covered  this  with  a  sail  white  as  snow,  and  crawled 
under  in  hiding  for  the  day. 

The  next  night  they  came  down  to  the  shore,  in  the 
hope,  perhaps,  of  finding  refugees  like  themselves. 
They  discovered  only  the  mangled  bodies  of  their 
comrades,  literally  hacked  to  pieces.  A  saint's  image 
and  a  book  of  prayers  lay  along  the  sand.  Scattered 
everywhere  were  flour  sacks,  provisions,  ships'  plank- 
ing. These  they  carried  back  as  well  as  they  could 
three  miles  in  the  mountains.  A  pretty  legend  is  told 
of  a  native  hunter  following  their  tracks  to  this  retreat, 
and  not  only  refusing  to  betray  them  but  secretly  carry- 
ing provisions;  and  some  such  explanation  is  needed 
to  know  how  the  four  men  lived  hidden  in  the  moun- 
tains from  December  9  to  February  2,  1764. 

If  they  had  known  where  those  other  Russian  ships 


96  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

were  anchored,  they  might  have  struck  across  country 
to  them, or  followed  the  coast  by'night;  but  rival  hunters 
did  not  tell  each  other  where  they  anchored,  and  tracks 
across  country  could  have  been  followed.  The  track- 
less sea  was  safer. 

There  is  another  story  of  how  the  men  hid  in  moun- 
tain caves  all  those  weeks,  kept  alive  by  the  warmth  of 
hot  springs,  feeding  on  clams  and  shell-fish  gathered 
at  night.  This,  too,  may  be  true;  for  the  mountains 
inland  of  Oonalaska  Harbor  are  honeycombed  with 
caves,  and  there  are  well-known  hot  springs. 

By  February  they  had  succeeded  in  making  a  skin 
skifF  of  the  leather  sacks.  They  launched  this  on  the 
harbor  and,  stealing  away  unseen,  rounded  the  north- 
west coast  of  Oonalaska's  hand  projecting  into  the  sea, 
travelling  at  night  southwestward,  seeking  the  ships 
of  Korovin,  or  MedvedefF,  or  GlottofF.  Now  the  ma- 
jority of  voyagers  don't  care  to  coast  this  part  of  Oona- 
laska at  night  during  the  winter  in  a  safe  ship;  and 
these  men  had  nothing  between  them  and  the  abyss  of 
the  sea  but  the  thickness  of  a  leather  sack  badly  oiled 
to  keep  out  water.  Their  one  hope  was  —  a  trader's 
vessel. 

All  night,  for  a  week,  they  coasted  within  the  shadow 
of  the  shore  rocks,  hiding  by  day,  passing  three  Indian 
villages  undiscovered.  Distance  gave  them  courage. 
They  now  paddled  by  day,  and  just  as  they  rounded 
Makushin  Volcano,  lying  like  a  great  white  corpse  five 
thousand  feet  above  Bering  Sea,  they  came  on  five 


THE    OUTLAW    HUNTERS  97 

Indians,  who  at  once  landed  and  running  alongshore 
gave  the  alarm.  The  refugees  for  the  second  time 
sought  safety  on  a  rock;  but  the  rising  tide  drove  them 
off.  Seizing  the  light  boat,  they  ran  for  shelter  in  a 
famous  cave  of  the  volcanic  mountain.  Here,  for  five 
weeks,  they  resisted  constant  siege,  not  a  Russian  of 
the  four  daring  to  appear  within  twenty  yards  of  the 
cave  entrance  before  a  shower  of  arrows  fell  inside. 
Their  only  food  now  was  the  shell-fish  gathered  at 
night;  their  only  water,  snow  scooped  from  gutters  of 
the  cave.  Each  night  one  watched  by  turn  while  the 
others  slept;  and  each  night  one  must  make  a  dash 
to  gather  the  shell-fish.  Five  weeks  at  last  tired  the 
Indians'  vigilance  out.  One  dark  night  the  Russians 
succeeded  in  launching  out  undetected.  That  day 
they  hid,  but  daybreak  of  the  next  long  pull  showed 
them  a  ship  in  the  folds  of  the  mountain  coast  — 
Korovin's  vessel.  They  reached  the  ship  on  the  3Oth 
of  March.  Poor  Shevyrin  soon  after  died  from  his 
wounds  in  the  underground  hut,  but  Korovin's  troubles 
had  only  begun. 

Ivan  Korovin's  vessel  had  sailed  out  of  Avacha  Bay, 
Kamchatka,  just  two  weeks  before  Pushkareff's  crew 
of  criminals  came  home.  It  had  become  customary  for 
the  hunting  vessels  to  sail  to  the  Commander  Islands 
—  Bering  and  Copper  —  nearest  Kamchatka,  and 
winter  there,  laying  up  a  store  of  sea-cow  meat,  the  huge 
bovine  of  the  sea,  which  was  soon  to  be  exterminated 
by  the  hunters.  Here  Korovin  met  Denis  Medvedeff's 


98  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

crew,  also  securing  a  year's  supply  of  meat  for  the  hunt 
of  the  sea-otter.  The  two  leaders  must  have  had 
some  inkling  of  trouble  ahead,  for  Medvedeff  gave 
Korovin  ten  more  sailors,  and  the  two  signed  a  written 
contract  to  help  each  other  in  time  of  need. 

In  spring  (1763)  both  sailed  for  the  best  sea-otter 
fields  then  known  —  Oonalaska  and  Oomnak,  Korovin 
with  thirty-seven  men,  Medvedeff,  forty-nine.  In 
order  not  to  interfere  with  each  other's  hunt,  Medve- 
deff  stopped  at  Oomnak,  Korovin  went  on  to  Oonalaska. 
Anchoring  sixty  yards  from  shore,  not  very  far  from  the 
volcano  caves,  where  Drusenin's  four  fugitives  were  to 
fight  for  their  lives  the  following  spring,  Korovin 
landed  with  fourteen  men  to  reconnoitre.  Deserted 
houses  he  saw,  but  never  a  living  soul.  Going  back  to 
the  ship  for  more  men,  he  set  out  again  and  went 
inland  five  miles  where  he  found  a  village  of  three 
hundred  souls.  Three  chiefs  welcomed  him,  showed 
receipts  for  tribute  of  furs  given  by  the  Cossack  collector 
of  a  previous  ship,  and  gave  over  three  boys  as  hostages 
of  good  conduct  —  one,  called  Alexis,  the  son  of  a 
chief.  Meanwhile,  letters  were  exchanged  with  Med- 
vedefF  down  a  hundred  miles  at  Oomnak.  All  was 
well.  The  time  had  not  come.  It  was  only  September 
-  about  the  same  time  that  Drusenin  up  north  was 
sending  out  his  hunters  in  three  detachments. 

Korovin  was  so  thoroughly  satisfied  all  was  safe, 
that  he  landed  his  entire  cargo  and  crew,  and  while  the 
carpenters  were  building  wintering  huts  out  of  drift- 


THE   OUTLAW    HUNTERS  99 

wood,  set  out  himself,  with  two  skin  boats,  to  coast 
northeast.  For  four  days  he  followed  the  very  shore 
that  the  four  escaping  men  were  to  cruise  in  an  oppo- 
site direction.  About  forty  miles  from  the  anchorage 
he  met  Drusenin  himself,  leading  twenty-five  Rus- 
sian hunters  out  from  Captain  Harbor.  Surely,  if  ever 
hunters  were  safe,  Korovin's  were,  with  MedvedeflF's 
forty-nine  men  southwest  a  hundred  miles,  and  Dru- 
senin's  thirty  sailors  forty  miles  northeast.  Korovin 
decided  to  hunt  midway  between  Drusenin's  crew 
and  MedvedefF's.  It  is  likely  that  the  letters  exchanged 
among  the  different  commanders  from  September  to 
December  were  arranging  that  Drusenin  should  keep 
to  the  east  of  Oonalaska,  Korovin  to  the  west  of  the 
island,  while  MedvedefF  hunted  exclusively  on  the  other 
island  —  Oomnak. 

By  December  Korovin  had  scattered  twenty-three 
hunters  southwest,  keeping  a  guard  of  only  sixteen 
for  the  huts  and  boat.  Among  the  sixteen  was  little 
Alexis,  the  hostage  Indian  boy.  The  warning  of  dan- 
ger was  from  the  mother  of  the  little  Aleut,  who  re- 

O  7 

ported  that  sixty  hostiles  were  advancing  on  the  ship 
under  pretence  of  trading  sea-otter.  Between  the 
barracks  and  the  sea  front  flowed  a  stream.  Here 
the  Cossack  guard  took  their  stand,  armed  head  to 
foot,  permitting  only  ten  Indians  at  a  time  to  enter  the 
huts  for  trade.  The  Aleuts  exchanged  their  sea-otter 
for  what  iron  they  could  get,  and  departed  without  any 
sign,  Korovin  had  almost  concluded  it  was  a  false 


ioo         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

alarm,  when  three  Indian  servants  of  Drusenin's  ship 
came  dashing  breathless  across  country  with  news  that 
the  ship  and  all  the  Russians  on  the  east  end  of  Oona- 
laska  had  been  destroyed. 

Including  the  three  newcomers,  Korovin  had  only 
nineteen  men;  and  his  hostages  numbered  almost  as 
strong.  The  panic-stricken  sailors  were  for  burning 
huts  and  ship,  and  escaping  overland  to  the  twenty- 
three  hunters  somewhere  southwest. 

It  was  the  loth  of  December  —  the  very  night  when 
Drusenin's  fugitives  had  taken  to  hiding  in  the  north 
mountains.  While  Korovin  was  still  debating  what  to 
do,  an  alarm  came  from  beneath  the  keel  of  the  ship. 
In  the  darkness,  the  sea  was  suddenly  alive  with  hun- 
dreds of  skin  skiffs  each  carrying  from  eight  to  twenty 
Indian  warriors.  One  can  well  believe  that  lanterns 
swinging  from  bow  and  stern,  and  lights  behind  the 
talc  windows  of  the  huts,  were  put  suddenly  out  to 
avoid  giving  targets  for  the  hurricane  of  lances  and  darts 
and  javelins  that  came  hurtling  through  the  air.  Two 
Russians  fell  dead,  reducing  Korovin's  defence  to 
fourteen;  but  a  quick  swing  of  musketry  exacted  five 
Indian  lives  for  the  two  dead  whites.  At  the  end  of 
four  days,  the  Russians  were  completely  exhausted. 
The  besiegers  withdrew  to  a  cave  on  the  mountain  side, 
perhaps  to  tempt  Korovin  on  land. 

Quick  as  thought,  Korovin  buried  his  iron  deep 
under  the  barracks,  set  fire  to  the  huts,  and  concentrated 
all  his  forces  on  the  vessel,  where  he  wisely  carried  the 


THE    OUTLAW    HUNTERS  101 

hostages  with  him  and  sheered  fifty  yards  farther  off 
shore.  Had  the  riot  of  winter  winds  not  been  driving 
mountain  billows  along  the  outer  coast,  he  might  have 
put  to  sea;  but  he  had  no  proof  the  twenty-three  men 
gone  inland  hunting  to  the  south  might  not  be  yet  alive, 
and  a  winter  gale  would  have  dashed  his  ship  to  kin- 
dling wood  outside  the  sheltered  harbor. 

Food  was  short,  water  was  short,  and  the  ship  over- 
crowded with  hostages.  To  make  matters  worse, 
scurvy  broke  out  among  the  crew;  and  the  hostiles 
renewed  the  attack,  surrounding  the  Russian  ship  in 
forty  canoes  with  ten  to  twenty  warriors  in  each.  An 
ocean  vessel  of  the  time,  or  even  a  pirate  ship,  could  have 
scattered  the  assailants  in  a  few  minutes;  but  the  Rus- 
sian hunting  vessels  were  long,  low,  flat-bottomed, 
rickety-planked  craft,  of  perhaps  sixty  feet  in  length, 
with  no  living  accommodation  below  decks,  and  very 
poor  hammock  space  above.  Hostages  and  scurvy- 
stricken  Russians  were  packed  in  the  hold  with  the 
meat  stores  and  furs  like  dying  rats  in  a  garbage  barrel. 
It  was  as  much  as  a  Russian's  life  was  worth,  to  show 
his  head  above  the  hatchway;  and  the  siege  lasted 
from  the  middle  of  December  to  the  3Oth  of  March, 
when  Drusenin's  four  refugees,  led  by  Korelin,  made  a 
final  dash  from  Makushin  Volcano,  and  gained  Koro- 
vin's  ship. 

With  the  addition  of  the  fugitives,  Korovin  now  had 
eighteen  Russians.  The  Indian  father  of  the  hostage, 


102         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

Alexis,  had  come  to  demand  back  his  son.  Korovin 
freed  the  boy  at  once.  By  the  end  of  April,  the  spring 
gales  had  subsided,  and  though  half  his  men  were 
prostrate  with  scurvy,  there  was  nothing  for  Korovin 
to  do  but  dare  the  sea.  They  sailed  out  from  Oona- 
laska  on  April  26  heading  back  toward  Oomnak, 
where  Medvedeff  had  anchored. 

In  the  straits  between  the  different  Aleutian  Islands 
runs  a  terrific  tide-rip.  Crossing  from  Oonalaska  to 
Oomnak,  Korovin's  ship  was  caught  by  the  counter- 
currents  and  cross  winds.  Not  more  than  five  men 
were  well  enough  to  stand  upon  their  feet.  The  ship 
drifted  without  pilot  or  oarsmen,  and  driving  the  full 
force  of  wind  and  tide  foundered  on  the  end  of  Oom- 
nak Island.  Ammunition,  sails,  and  skins  for  fresh 
rowboats  were  all  that  could  be  saved  of  the  wreck. 
One  scurvy-stricken  sailor  was  drowned  trying  to 
reach  land ;  another  died  on  being  lifted  from  the 
stiflingly  close  hold  to  fresh  air.  Eight  hostages  sprang 
overboard  and  escaped.  Of  the  sixteen  white  men  and 
four  hostages  left,  three  were  powerless  from  scurvy. 
This  last  blow  on  top  of  a  winter's  siege  was  too  much 
for  the  Russians.  Their  enfeebled  bodies  were  totally 
exhausted.  Stretching  sails  round  as  a  tent  and  sta- 
tioning ten  men  at  a  time  as  sentinels,  they  slept  the 
first  unbroken  sleep  they  had  known  in  five  months. 
The  tired-out  sentinels  must  have  fallen  asleep  at  their 
places;  for  just  as  day  dawned  came  a  hundred  savages, 
stealthy  and  silent,  seeking  the  ship  that  had  slipped 


THE   OUTLAW    HUNTERS  103 

out  from  Oonalaska.  Landing  without  a  sound,  they 
crept  up  within  ten  yards  of  the  tents,  stabbed  the  sleep- 
ing sentinels  to  death,  and  let  go  such  a  whiz  of  arrows 
and  lances  at  the  tent  walls,  that  three  of  the  Indian 
hostages  inside  were  killed  and  every  Russian  wounded. 

Korovin  had  not  even  time  to  seize  his  firearms. 
Cutlass  in  hand,  followed  by  four  men  —  all  wounded 
and  bleeding  like  himself —  he  dashed  out,  slashed  two 
savages  to  death,  and  scattered  the  rest  at  the  sword 
point.  A  shower  of  spears  was  the  Indians'  answer  to 
this.  Wounded  anew,  the  five  Russians  could  scarcely 
drag  themselves  back  to  the  tent  where  by  this  time 
the  others  had  seized  the  firearms. 

All  that  day  and  night,  a  tempest  lashed  the  shore. 
The  stranded  ship  fell  to  pieces  like  a  boat  of  paper; 
and  the  attacking  islanders  strewed  the  provisions  to 
the  winds  with  shrieks  of  laughter.  On  the  3Oth  of 
April,  the  assailants  began  firing  muskets,  which  they 
had  captured  from  Korovin's  massacred  hunters ;  but  the 
shots  fell  wide  of  the  mark.  Then  they  brought  sul- 
phur from  the  volcanic  caves,  and  set  fire  to  the  long 
grass  on  the  windward  side  of  the  tents.  Again,  Korovin 
sallied  out,  drove  them  off,  and  extinguished  the  fire. 
May,  June,  and  half  July  he  lay  stranded  here,  waiting 
for  his  men  to  recover,  and  when  they  recovered,  setting 
them  to  build  a  boat  of  skin  and  driftwood. 

Toward  the  third  week  of  July,  a  skin  boat  twenty- 
four  feet  long  was  finished.  In  this  were  laid  the 
wounded;  and  the  well  men  took  to  the  paddles.  All 


104 

night  they  paddled  westward  and  still  westward, 
night  after  night,  seeking  the  third  vessel  —  that  of 
Denis  Medvedeff,  who  had  come  with  them  the  year 
before  from  Bering  Island.  On  the  tenth  day,  Russian 
huts  and  a  stone  bath-house  were  seen  on  the  shore  of 
a  broad  inlet.  Not  a  soul  was  stirring.  As  Korovin's 
boat  approached,  bits  of  s^il,  ships'  wreckage,  and  pro- 
visions were  seen  scattered  on  the  shore.  Fearing  the 
worst,  Korovin  landed.  Signs  of  a  struggle  were  on 
every  hand;  and  in  the  bath-house,  still  clothed  but 
with  thongs  round  their  necks  as  if  they  had  been 
strangled  to  death,  lay  twenty  of  MedvedefFs  crew. 
Closer  examination  showed  Medvedeff  himself  among 
the  slain.  Not  a  soul  was  left  to  tell  the  story  of  the 
massacre,  not  a  word  ever  heard  about  the  fate  of  the 
others  in  the  crew.  Korovin's  last  hope  was  gone. 
There  was  no  third  ship  to  carry  him  home.  He  was 
in  the  very  act  of  ordering  his  men  to  construct 
winter  quarters,  when  Stephen  Glottoff,  a  famous 
hunter  on  the  way  back  from  Kadiak  westward, 
appeared  marching  across  the  sands  followed  by  eight 
men.  Glottoff  had  heard  of  the  massacres  from  natives 
on  the  north  shore  with  whom  he  was  friendly;  and 
had  sent  out  rescue  parties  to  seek  the  survivors  on  the 
south  coast  of  whom  the  Indian  spies  told. 

The  poor  fugitives  embraced  Glottoff,  and  went 
almost  mad  with  joy.  But  like  the  prospector,  who 
suffers  untold  hardships  seeking  the  wealth  of  gold, 
these  seekers  of  wealth  in  furs  could  not  relinquish  the 


THE    OUTLAW    HUNTERS  105 

wild  freedom  of  the  perilous  life.     They  signed  con- 
tracts to  hunt  with  GlottofF  for  the  year. 

It  is  no  part  of  this  story  to  tell  how  the  Cossack, 
Solovieff,  entered  on  a  campaign  of  punishment  for 
the  Aleuts  when  he  came.  Whole  villages  were  blown 
up  by  mines  of  powder  in  birch  bark.  Fugitives 
dashing  from  the  conflagration  were  sabred  by  the 
Russians,  as  many  as  a  hundred  Aleuts  butchered  at  a 
time,  villages  of  three  hundred  scattered  to  the  winds, 
warriors  bound  hand  and  foot  in  line,  and  shot  down. 

Suffice  it  to  say,  scurvy  slaked  SoloviefFs  vengeance. 
Both  Aleuts  and  Russians  had  learned  the  one  all-im- 
portant lesson  —  the  Christian's  doctrine  of  retribution, 
the  scientist's  law  of  equilibrium  —  that  brute  force  met 
by  brute  force  ends  only  in  mutual  destruction,  in 
anarchy,  in  death.  Thirty  years  later,  Vancouver  visit- 
ing the  Russians  could  report  that  their  influence  on 
the  Indians  was  of  the  sort  that  springs  from  deep- 
rooted  kindness  and  identity  of  interests.  Both  sides 
had  learned  there  was  a  better  way  than  the  wolf  code.1 

1  It  would  be  almost  impossible  to  quote  all  the  authorities  on  this  massacre  of  the 
Russians;  and  every  one  who  has  written  on  Russian  fur  trade  in  America  gives  different 
scraps  of  the  tragedy  ;  but  nearly  all  can  be  traced  back  to  the  detailed  account  in  Coxe's 
Discoveries  of  the  Russians  between  Asia  and  America,  and  on  this  I  have  relied,  the 
French  edition  of  1781.  The  Census  Report,  Vol.  VIII,  1880,  by  Ivan  Petroff,  is 
invaluable  for  topography  and  ethnology  of  this  period  and  region.  It  was  from  Korelin, 
one  of  the  four  refugees,  that  the  Russian  archivists  took  the  first  account  of  the  massacre  ; 
and  Coxe's  narrative  is  based  on  Korelin's  story,  though  the  tradition  of  the  massacre 
has  been  handed  down  from  father  to  child  among  Oonalaskans  to  this  day  ;  so  that 
certain  caves  near  Captain  Harbor,  and  Makushin  Volcano  are  still  pointed  out  as  the 
refuge  of  the  four  pursued  Russian;, 


CHAPTER    V 

1768-1772 

COUNT    MAURITIUS    BENYOWSKY,    THE    POLISH 
PIRATE 

Siberian  Exiles  under  Polish  Soldier  of  Fortune  plot  to  overthrow 
Garrison  of  Kamchatka  and  escape  to  West  Coast  of  America  as 
Fur  Traders  —  A  Bloody  Melodrama  enacted  at  Bolcheresk  —  The 
Count  and  his  Criminal  Crew  sail  to  America 

FUR  hunters,  world  over,  live  much  the  same  life. 

It  was  the  beaver  led  French  voyageurs  westward  to 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  It  was  the  sea-otter  brought 
Russian  coasters  cruising  southward  from  Alaska  to 
California ;  and  it  was  the  little  sable  set  the  mad  pace 
of  the  Cossacks'  wild  rush  clear  across  Siberia  to  the 
shores  of  the  Pacific.  The  tribute  that  the  riotous 
Cossacks  collected,  whether  from  Siberia  or  America, 
was  tribute  in  furs. 

The  farther  the  hunters  wandered,  the  harder  it  was 
to  obtain  supplies  from  the  cities.  In  each  case  —  in 
New  France,  on  the  Missouri,  in  Siberia  —  this  com- 
pelled resort  to  the  same  plan;  a  grand  rallying  place, 
a  yearly  rendezvous,  a  stamping-ground  for  hunters 
and  traders.  Here  merchants  brought  their  goods; 

106 


THE    POLISH    PIRATE  107 

hunters,  their  furs;  light-fingered  gentry,  offscourings 
from  everywhere,  horses  to  sell,  or  smuggled  whiskey, 
or  plunder  that  had  been  picked  up  in  ways  untold. 

The  great  meeting  place  for  Russian  fur  traders  was 
on  a  plain  east  of  the  Lena  River,  not  far  from  Yakutsk, 
a  thousand  miles  in  a  crow  line  from  the  Pacific.  In 
the  fall  of  1770  there  had  gathered  here  as  lawless 
birds  of  a  feather  as  ever  scoured  earth  for  prey.  Mer- 
chants from  the  inland  cities  had  floated  down  supplies 
to  the  plain  on  white  and  black  and  lemon-painted 
river  barges.  Long  caravans  of  pack  horses  and  mules 
and  tented  wagons  came  rumbling  dust-covered  across 
the  fields,  bells  ajingle,  driven  by  Cossacks  all  the  way 
from  St.  Petersburg,  six  thousand  miles.  Through 
snow-padded  forests,  over  wind-swept  plains,  across 
the  heaving  mountains  of  two  continents,  along  deserts 
and  Siberian  rivers,  almost  a  year  had  the  caravans 
travelled.  These,  for  the  most  part,  carried  ship 
supplies  —  cordage,  tackling,  iron  —  for  vessels  to  be 
built  on  the  Pacific  to  sail  for  America. 

Then  there  rode  in  at  furious  pace,  from  the  northern 
steppes  of  Siberia,  the  Cossack  tribute  collectors  — 
four  hundred  of  them  centred  here  —  who  gathered 
one-tenth  of  the  furs  for  the  Czar,  nine-tenths  for 
themselves :  drunken  brawlers  they  were,  lawless  as 
Arabs;  and  the  only  law  they  knew  was  the  law 
they  wielded.  Tartar  hordes  came  with  horses  to 
sell,  freebooters  of  the  boundless  desert,  banditti  in 
league  with  the  Cossacks  to  smuggle  across  the  bor- 


io8         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

ders  of  the  Chinese.  And  Chinese  smugglers,  splendid 
in  silk  attire,  hobnobbed  with  exiles,  who  included 
every  class  from  courtiers  banished  for  political  of- 
fences to  criminals  with  ears  cut  off  and  faces  slit  open. 
What  with  drink  and  play  and  free  fights  —  if  the 
Czar  did  not  hear,  it  was  because  he  was  far  away. 

On  this  August  night  half  a  dozen  new  exiles  had 
come  in  with  the  St.  Petersburg  cavalcade.  The 
prisoners  were  set  free  on  parole  to  see  the  sights, 
while  their  Cossack  guard  went  on  a  spree.  The  new- 
comers seemed  above  the  common  run  of  criminals 
sent  to  Siberia,  better  clothed,  of  the  air  born  to  com- 
mand, and  in  possession  of  money.  The  leading 
spirit  among  them  was  a  young  Pole,  twenty-eight 
years  or  thereabouts,  of  noble  rank,  Mauritius  Be- 
nyowsky,  very  lame  from  a  battle  wound,  but  plainly 
a  soldier  of  fortune  who  could  trump  every  trick 
fate  played  him,  and  give  as  good  knocks  as  he  got. 
Four  others  were  officers  of  the  army  in  St.  Petersburg, 
exiled  for  political  reasons.  Only  one,  Hippolite 
Stephanow,  was  a  criminal  in  the  sense  of  having 
broken  law. 

Hoffman,  a  German  surgeon,  welcomed  them  to  his 
quarters  at  Yakutsk.  Where  were  they  going? --To 
the  Pacific?-  "Ah;  a  long  journey  from  St.  Peters- 
burg; seven  thousand  miles!"  That  was  where  he 
was  to  go  when  he  had  finished  surgical  duties  on  the 
Lena.  By  that  they  knew  he,  too,  was  an  exile, 
practising  his  profession  on  parole.  He  would  advise 


THE    POLISH    PIRATE 


109 


them  —  cautiously  feeling  his  ground  —  to  get  trans- 
ferred as  soon  as  they  could  from  the  Pacific  coast  to 
the  Peninsula  of  Kamchatka;  that  was  safer  for  an 
exile  —  fewer  guards,  farther  from  the  Cossacks  of 
the  mainland;  in  fact,  nearer  America,  where  exiles 
might  make  a 
fortune  in  the 
fur  trade.  Had 
they  heard  of 
schemes  in  the 
air  among  Rus- 
sians for  ships 
to  plunder  furs 
in  America 
"with  powder 
and  hatchets  and 
the  help  of  God," 
as  the  Russians 


say 


Mauritius  Augustus,  Count  Benyowsky. 


Benyowsky, 

the  Pole,  jumped  to  the  bait  like  a  trout  to  the  fly.  If 
"powder  and  hatchets  and  the  help  of  God"  -and 
an  exile  crew  —  could  capture  wealth  in  the  fur  trade 
of  western  America,  why  not  a  break  for  freedom  ? 

They  didn't  scruple  as  to  means,  these  men.  Why 
should  they  ?  They  had  been  penned  in  festering 
dungeons,  where  the  dead  lay,  corrupting  the  air  till 
living  and  dead  became  a  diseased  mass.  They  had 
been  knouted  for  differences  of  political  opinion.  They 


no         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

had  been  whisked  off  at  midnight  from  St.  Petersburg 
-  mile  after  mile,  week  after  week,  month  after  month, 
across  the  snows,  with  never  a  word  of  explanation, 
knowing  only  from  the  jingle  of  many  bells  that  other 
prisoners  were  in  the  long  procession.  Now  their 
hopes  took  fire  from  Hoffman's  tales  of  Russian  plans 
for  fur  trade.  The  path  of  the  trackless  sea  seems 
always  to  lead  to  a  boundless  freedom. 

In  a  word,  before  they  had  left  Hoffman,  they  had 
bound  themselves  by  oath  to  try  to  seize  a  fur-trad- 
ing ship  to  escape  across  the  Pacific.  Stephanow,  the 
common  convict,  was  the  one  danger.  He  might  play 
spy  and  obtain  freedom  by  betraying  all.  To  pre- 
vent this,  each  man  was  required  to  sign  his  name  to 
an  avowal  of  the  conspirators'  aim.  Hoffman  was  to 
follow  as  soon  as  he  could.  Meanwhile  he  kept  the 
documents,  which  were  written  in  German;  and  Be- 
nyowsky,  the  Pole,  was  elected  chief. 

The  Cossack  guards  came  sulkily  back  from  their 
gambling  bout.  The  exiles  were  placed  in  elk-team 
sleds,  and  the  remaining  thousand  miles  to  the  Pacific 
resumed.  But  the  spree  had  left  the  soldiers  with  sore 
heads.  At  the  first  camping  place  they  were  gam- 
bling again.  On  the  sixth  day  out  luck  turned  so 
heavily  against  one  soldier  that  he  lost  his  entire 
belongings  to  the  captain  of  the  troops,  flew  in  a 
towering  rage,  and  called  his  officer  some  black- 
guard name.  The  officer  nonchalantly  took  over  the 


THE   POLISH    PIRATE  in 

gains,  swallowed  the  insult,  and  commanded  the  other 
Cossacks  to  tie  the  fellow  up  and  give  him  a  hun- 
dred lashes. 

For  a  moment  consternation  reigned.  There  are 
some  unwritten  laws  even  among  the  Cossacks.  To 
play  the  equal,  when  there  was  money  to  win,  then  act 
the  despot  when  offended,  was  not  according  to  the 
laws  of  good  fellows  among  Cossacks.  Before  the 
officer  knew  where  he  was,  he  had  been  seized,  bundled 
out  of  the  tent,  stripped  naked  and  flogged  on  the  bare 
back  three  hundred  strokes. 

He  was  still  roaring  with  rage  and  pain  and  fear 
when  a  coureur  came  thundering  over  the  path  from 
Yakutsk  with  word  that  Hoffman  had  died  suddenly, 
leaving  certain  papers  suspected  of  conspiracy,  which 
were  being  forwarded  for  examination  to  the  com- 
mander on  the  Pacific.  The  coureur  handed  the 
paper  to  the  officer  of  the  guards.  Not  a  man  of  the 
Cossacks  could  read  German.  What  the  papers  were 
the  terrified  exiles  knew.  If  word  of  the  plot  reached 
the  Pacific,  they  might  expect  knouting,  perhaps  muti- 
lation, or  lifelong,  hopeless  servitude  in  the  chain- 
gangs  of  the  mines. 

One  chance  of  frustrating  detection  remained  — 
the  Cossack  officer  looked  to  the  exiles  for  protection 
against  his  men.  For  a  week  the  cavalcade  moved 
sullenly  on,  the  soldiers  jeering  in  open  revolt  at  the 
officer,  the  officer  in  terror  for  his  life,  the  exiles  quak- 
ing with  fear.  The  road  led  to  a  swift,  somewhat 


ii2         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

dangerous  river.  The  Cossacks  were  ordered  to  swim 
the  elk  teams  across.  The  officer  went  on  the  raft  to 
guard  the  prisoners,  on  whose  safe  delivery  his  own 
life  depended.  With  hoots  of  laughter,  that  could 
not  be  reported  as  disobedience,  the  Cossacks  hustled 
the  snorting  elk  teams  against  the  raft.  A  deft  hoist 
from  the  pole  of  some  unseen  diver  below,  and  the  raft 
load  was  turned  helter-skelter  upside  down  in  the 
middle  of  the  river,  the  commander  going  under  heels 
up !  When  officer  and  exiles  came  scrambling  up  the 
bank  wet  as  water-rats,  they  were  welcomed  with  shouts 
by  the  Cossacks.  Officer  and  prisoners  lighted  a  fire 
to  dry  clothes.  Soldiers  rummaged  out  the  brandy 
casks,  and  were  presently  so  deep  in  drunken  sleep  not 
a  man  of  the  guard  was  on  his  feet.  Benyowsky 
waited  till  the  commander,  too,  slept.  Then  the  Pole 
limped,  careful  as  a  cat  over  cut  glass,  to  the  coat  drying 
before  the  fire,  drew  out  the  packet  of  documents,  and 
found  what  the  exiles  had  feared  —  Hoffman's  papers 
in  German,  with  orders  to  the  commander  on  the 
Pacific  to  keep  the  conspirators  fettered  till  instruc- 
tions came  the  next  year  from  St.  Petersburg. 

The  prisoners  realized  that  all  must  be  risked  in 
one  desperate  cast  of  the  dice.  "I  and  time  against 
all  men,"  says  the  proverb.  No  fresh  caravan  would 
be  likely  to  come  till  spring.  Meanwhile  they  must 
play  against  time.  Burning  the  packet  to  ashes,  they 
replaced  it  with  a  forged  order  instructing  the  com- 
mander on  the  Pacific  to  treat  the  exiles  with  all  free- 


THE   POLISH    PIRATE  113 

dom  and  liberality,  and  to  forward  them  by  the  first 
boat  outward  bound  for  Kamchatka. 

The  governor  at  Okhotsk  did  precisely  as  the  packet 
instructed.  He  allowed  them  out  on  parole.  He  sup- 
plied them  with  clothing  and  money.  He  forwarded 
them  to  Kamchatka  on  the  first  boat  outward  bound, 
the  St.  Peter  and  Paul,  with  forty-three  of  a  crew  and 
ten  cannon,  which  had  just  come  back  from  punishing 
American  Indians  for  massacring  the  Russians. 

A  year  less  two  days  from  the  night  they  had  been 
whisked  out  of  St.  Petersburg,  the  exiles  reached  their 
destination  — the  little  log  fort  or  ostrog  of  Bolche- 
resk,  about  twenty  miles  up  from  the  sea  on  the  inner 
side  of  Kamchatka,  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  over- 
land from  the  Pacific.  The  rowboat  conducting  the 
exiles  up-stream  met  rafts  of  workmen  gliding  down 
the  current.  Rafts  and  rowboat  paused  within  call. 
The  raftsmen  wanted  news  from  Europe.  Benyowsky 
answered  that  exiles  had  no  news.  "Who  are  you  ?" 
an  officer  demanded  bluntly.  Always  and  uncon- 
sciously playing  the  hero  part  of  melodrama,  Benyow- 
sky replied  — "  Once  a  soldier  and  a  general,  now  a 
slave."  Shouts  of  laughter  broke  from  the  raftsmen. 
The  enraged  Pole  was  for  leaping  overboard  and 
thrashing  them  to  a  man  for  their  mockery;  but  they 
called  out,  "no  offence  had  been  meant"  :  they,  too,  were 
exiles ;  their  laughter  was  welcome ;  they  had  suffered 
enough  in  Kamchatka  to  know  that  when  men  must 
laugh  or  weep,  better,  much  better,  laugh  !  Even  as  they 


u4         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

laughed  came  the  tears.  With  a  rear  sweep,  the  rafts 
headed  about  and  escorted  the  newcomers  to  the  for- 
tress, where  they  were  locked  for  the  night.  After  all, 
a  welcome  to  exile  was  a  sardonic  sort  of  mirth. 

Kamchatka  occupies  very  much  the  same  position 
on  the  Pacific  as  Italy  to  the  Mediterranean,  or  Nor- 
way to  the  North  Sea.  Its  people  were  nomads,  wild 
as  American  Indians,  but  Russia  had  established  gar- 
risons of  Cossacks  —  collectors  of  tribute  in  furs  - 
all  over  the  peninsula,  of  whom  four  hundred  were 
usually  moving  from  place  to  place,  three  hundred 
stationed  at  Bolcheresk,  the  seat  of  government,  on 
the  inner  coast  of  the  peninsula. 

The  capital  itself  was  a  curious  conglomeration 
of  log  huts  stuck  away  at  the  back  of  beyond,  with  all 
the  gold  lace  and  court  satins  and  regimental  formali- 
ties of  St.  Petersburg  in  miniature.  On  one  side  of 
a  deep  ravine,  was  the  fort  or  ostrog  —  a  palisaded 
courtyard  of  some  two  or  three  hundred  houses,  joined 
together  like  the  face  of  a  street,  with  assembly  rooms, 
living  apartments,  and  mess  rooms  on  one  side  of  a 
passageway,  kitchens,  servants'  quarters,  and  barracks 
for  the  Cossacks  on  the  other  side  of  the  aisle.  Two 
or  three  streets  of  these  double-rowed  houses  made  up 
the  fort.  Few  of  the  houses  contained  more  than 
three  rooms,  but  the  rooms  were  large  as  halls,  one 
hundred  by  eighty  feet,  some  of  them,  with  whip- 
sawed  floors,  clay-chinked  log  walls,  parchment  win- 


THE    POLISH    PIRATE  115 

dows,  and  furniture  hewed  out  of  the  green  fir  trees  of 
the  mountains.  But  the  luxurious  living  made  up  for 
the  bareness  of  furnishings.  Shining  samovars  sung 
in  every  room.  Rugs  of  priceless  fur  concealed  the 
rough  flooring.  Chinese  silks,  Japanese  damasks,  — 
Oriental  tapestries  smuggled  in  by  the  fur  traders,  - 
covered  the  walls ;  and  richest  of  silk  attired  the  Rus- 
sian officers  and  their  ladies,  compelled  to  beguile  time 
here,  where  the  only  break  in  monotony  was  the  arrival 
of  fresh  ships  from  America,  or  exiles  from  St.  Peters- 
burg, or  gambling  or  drinking  or  dancing  or  feasting 
the  long  winter  nights  through,  with,  perhaps,  a  duel  in 
the  morning  to  settle  midnight  debts.  Just  across  a 
deep  ravine  from  the  fort  was  another  kind  of  settle- 
ment —  ten  or  a  dozen  yurts,  thatch-roofed,  circular 
houses  half  underground  like  cellars,  grouped  about 
a  square  hall  or  barracks  in  the  centre.  In  this  village 
dwelt  the  exiles,  earning  their  living  by  hunting  or 
acting  as  servants  for  the  officers  of  the  Cossacks. 

Here,  then,  came  Benyowsky  and  his  companions, 
well  received  because  of  forged  letters  sent  on,  but  with 
no  time  to  lose;  for  the  first  spring  packet  overland 
might  reveal  their  conspiracy.  The  raftsmen,  who 
had  welcomed  them,  now  turned  hosts  and  housed 
the  newcomers.  The  Pole  was  assigned  to  an  educated 
Russian,  who  had  been  eight  years  in  exile. 

"  How  can  you  stand  it  ?  Do  you  fear  death  too 
much  to  dare  one  blow  for  liberty  ?"  Benyowsky  asked 
the  other,  as  they  sat  over  their  tea  that  first  night. 


n6         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

But  a  spy  might  ask  the  same  question.  The  Rus- 
sian evaded  answer,  and  a  few  hours  later  showed  the 
Pole  books  of  travel,  among  which  were  maps  of  the 
Philippines,  where  twenty  or  thirty  exiles  might  go 
//  they  bad  a  leader. 

Leader  ?  Benyowsky  leaped  to  his  feet  with  hands 
on  pistol  and  cutlass  with  which  he  had  been  armed 
that  morning  when  Governor  Nilow  liberated  them  to 
hunt  on  parole.  Leader  ?  Were  they  men  ?  Was  this 
settlement,  too,  ready  to  rise  if  they  had  a  leader  ? 

No  time  to  lose !  Within  a  month,  cautious  as  a 
man  living  over  a  volcano,  the  Polish  nobleman  had 
enlisted  twenty  recruits  from  the  exile  settlement, 
bound  to  secrecy  by  oath,  and  a  score  more  from  a 
crew  of  sailor  exiles  back  from  America,  mutinous  over 
brutal  treatment  by  their  captain.  In  addition  to 
secrecy,  each  conspirator  bound  himself  to  implicit 
and  instant  obedience  to  Benyowsky,  their  chief,  and 
to  slay  each  with  his  own  hand  any  member  of  the 
band  found  guilty  of  betrayal.  But  what  gave  the 
Pole  his  greatest  power  was  his  relation  to  the  gov- 
ernor. The  coming  of  the  young  nobleman  had 
caused  a  flutter  in  the  social  life  of  the  dull  little  fort. 
He  had  been  appointed  secretary  to  Governor  Nilow, 
and  tutor  to  his  children.  The  governor's  lady  was 
the  widow  of  a  Swedish  exile;  and  it  took  the  Pole  but 
a  few  interviews  to  discover  that  wife  and  family  fa- 
vored the  exiles  rather  than  their  Russian  lord.  In 
fact,  the  good  woman  suggested  to  the  Pole  that  he 


THE    POLISH    PIRATE  117 

should  prevent  her  sixteen-year-old  daughter  becoming 
wife  to  a  Cossack  by  marrying  her  himself. 

The  Pole's  first  move  was  to  ask  the  governor's 
permission  to  establish  a  colony  of  exile  farmers  in  the 
south  of  the  peninsula.  The  request  was  granted. 
This  created  a  good  excuse  for  the  gathering  of  the 
provisions  that  would  be  needed  for  the  voyage  on  the 
Pacific;  but  when  the  exiles  further  requested  a  fur- 
trading  vessel  to  transport  the  provisions  to  the  new 
colony,  their  design  was  balked  by  the  unsuspecting 
governor  granting  them  half  a  hundred  row  boats,  too 
frail  to  go  a  mile  from  the  coast.  There  seemed  no 
other  course  but  to  seize  a  vessel  by  force  and  escape, 
but  Benyowsky  again  played  for  time.  The  govern- 
or's daughter  discovered  his  plot  through  her  servant 
planning  to  follow  one  of  the  exiles  to  sea;  but  instead 
of  betraying  him  to  her  Russian  father,  she  promised 
to  send  him  red  clippings  of  thread  as  danger  signals  if 
the  governor  or  his  chancellor  got  wind  of  the  treason. 

Their  one  aim  was  to  get  away  from  Asia  before 
fresh  orders  could  come  overland  from  Yakutsk.  Ice 
still  blocked  the  harbor  in  April,  but  the  St.  Peter  and 
Paul,  the  armed  vessel  that  had  brought  the  exiles 
across  the  sea  from  the  mainland,  lay  in  port  and  was 
already  enlisting  a  crew  for  the  summer  voyage  to 
America.  The  Pole  sent  twelve  of  his  men  to  enlist 
among  the  crew,  and  nightly  store  provisions  in  the 
hold.  The  rest  of  the  band  were  set  to  manufacturing 
cartridges,  and  buying  or  borrowing  all  the  firearms 


u8         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

they  could  obtain  on  the  pretence  of  hunting.  Word 
was  secretly  carried  from  man  to  man  that,  when  a 
light  was  hoisted  on  the  end  of  a  flagstaff  above  the 
Benyowsky  hut,  all  were  to  rally  for  the  settlement 
across  the  ravine  from  the  fort. 

The  crisis  came  before  the  harbor  had  opened. 
Benyowsky  was  on  a  sled  journey  inland  with  the  gov- 
ernor, when  an  exile  came  to  him  by  night  with  word 
that  one  of  the  conspirators  had  lost  his  nerve  and 
determined  to  save  his  own  neck  by  confessing  all  to 
the  governor. 

The  traitor  was  even  now  hard  on  the  trail  to  over- 
take the  governor.  Without  a  moment's  wavering, 
Benyowsky  sent  the  messenger  with  a  flask  of  poisoned 
brandy  back  to  meet  the  man. 

The  Pole  had  scarcely  returned  to  his  hut  in  the 
exile  village,  when  the  governor's  daughter  came  to 
him  in  tears.  IsmylofF,  a  young  Russian  trader,  who 
had  all  winter  tried  to  join  the  conspirators  as  a  spy, 
had  been  on  the  trail  when  the  traitor  was  poisoned 
and  was  even  now  closeted  with  Governor  Nilow. 

It  was  the  night  of  April  23.  No  sooner  had  the 
daughter  gone  than  the  light  was  run  up  on  the  flag- 
staff, the  bridge  across  the  ravine  broken  down,  arms 
dragged  from  hiding  in  the  cellars,  windows  and  doors 
barricaded,  sentinels  placed  in  hiding  along  the  ditch 
between  village  and  fort.  For  a  whole  day,  no  word 
came.  Governor  and  chancellor  were  still  busy  ex- 
amining witnesses.  In  the  morning  came  a  maid 


THE   POLISH    PIRATE  119 

from  the  governor's  daughter  with  a  red  thread  of 
warning,  and  none  too  soon,  for  at  ten  o'clock,  a  Cos- 
sack sergeant  brought  a  polite  invitation  from  the  gov- 
ernor for  the  pleasure  of  M.  Benyowsky's  company 
at  breakfast. 

M.  Benyowsky  returns  polite  regrets  that  he  is 
slightly  indisposed,  but  hopes  to  give  himself  the 
pleasure  later. 

The  sergeant  winked  his  eyes  and  opined  it  was 
wiser  to  go  by  fair  means  than  to  be  dragged  by  main 
force. 

The  Pole  advised  the  sergeant  to  make  his  will  before 
repeating  that  threat. 

Noon  saw  two  Cossacks  and  an  officer  thundering 
at  the  Pole's  door.  The  door  opened  wide.  In 
marched  the  soldiers,  armed  to  the  teeth;  but  before 
their  clicking  heels  had  ceased  to  mark  time,  the  door 
was  shut  again.  Benyowsky  had  whistled.  A  dozen 
exiles  rose  out  of  the  floor.  Cossacks  and  captors 
rolled  in  a  heap.  The  soldiers  were  bound  head  to 
feet,  and  bundled  into  the  cellar.  Meanwhile  the 
sentinels  hidden  in  the  ravine  had  captured  Ismyloff, 
the  nephew  of  the  chancellor,  and  two  other  Russians, 
who  were  added  to  the  captives  in  the  cellar;  and  the 
governor  changed  his  tactics.  A  letter  was  received 
from  the  governor's  daughter  pleading  with,  her  lover 
to  come  and  be  reconciled  with  her  father,  who  had 
now  no  prejudice  against  the  exiles;  but  in  the  letter 
were  two  or  three  tiny  red  threads  such  as  might  have 


120         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

been  pulled  out  of  a  dress  sleeve.     The  letter  had  been 
written  under  force. 

Benyowsky's  answer  was  to  marshal  his  fifty-seven 
men  in  three  divisions  round  the  village;  one  round 
the  house,  the  largest  hidden  in  the  dark  on  the  fort 
side  of  the  ravine,  a  decoy  group  stationed  in  the  ditch 
to  draw  an  attack. 

By  midnight,  the  sentinels  sent  word  that  the  main 
guard  of  Cossacks  had  reached  the  ravine.  The  de- 
coy had  made  a  feint  of  resistance.  The  Cossacks 
sent  back  to  the  fort  for  reinforcements.  The  Pole 
waited  only  till  nearly  all  the  Cossacks  were  on  the 
ditch  bank,  then  instructing  the  little  band  of  decoys 
to  keep  up  a  sham  fight,  poured  his  main  forces  through 
the  dark,  across  the  plain  at  a  run,  for  the  fort.  Pali- 
sades were  scaled,  gates  broken  down,  guards  stabbed 
where  they  stood  !  Benyowsky's  men  had  the  fort  and 
the  gates  barricaded  again  before  the  governor  could 
collect  his  senses.  As  Benyowsky  entered  the  main 
rooms,  the  enraged  commander  seized  a  pistol,  which 
missed  fire,  and  sprang  at  the  Pole's  throat,  roaring  out 
he  would  see  the  exiles  dead  before  he  would  surrender. 
The  Pole,  being  lame,  had  swayed  back  under  the 
onslaught,  when  the  circular  slash  of  a  cutlass  in  the 
hand  of  an  exile  officer  severed  the  governor's  head 
from  his  body. 

Twenty-eight  Cossacks  were  put  to  the  sword  inside 
the  fort ;  but  the  exiles  were  not  yet  out  of  their  troubles 
Though  they  had  seized  the  armed  vessel  at  once  and 


THE   POLISH    PIRATE  121 

transferred  to  the  hold  the  entire  loot  of  the  fort, — 
furs,  silks,  supplies,  gold,  —  it  would  be  two  weeks 
before  the  ice  would  leave  the  port.  Meanwhile  the 
two  hundred  defeated  Cossacks  had  retreated  to  a  hill, 
and  sent  coureurs  scurrying  for  help  to  the  other  forts 
of  Kamchatka.  Within  two  weeks  seven  hundred 
Cossacks  would  be  on  the  hills;  and  the  exiles,  whose 
supplies  were  on  board  the  vessel,  would  be  cut  off  in 
the  fort  and  starved  into  surrender. 

No  time  to  waste,  Benyowsky !  Not  a  woman  or 
child  was  harmed,  but  every  family  in  the  fort  was 
quickly  rounded  up  in  the  chapel.  Round  this,  out- 
side, were  piled  chairs,  furniture,  pitch,  tar,  powder, 
whale-oil.  Promptly  at  nine  in  the  morning,  three 
women  and  twelve  young  girls  —  wives  and  daughters 
of  the  Cossack  officers  —  were  despatched  to  the  Cos- 
sack besiegers  on  the  hill  with  word  that  unless  the 
Cossacks  surrendered  their  arms  to  the  exiles  and  sent 
down  fifty  soldiers  as  hostages  of  safety  for  the  exiles 
till  the  ship  could  sail  —  precisely  at  ten  o'clock  the 
church  would  be  set  on  fire. 

The  women  were  seen  to  ascend  the  hill.  No 
signal  came  from  the  Cossacks.  At  a  quarter  past 
nine  Benyowsky  kindled  fires  at  each  of  the  four 
angles  of  the  church.  As  the  flames  began  to  mount 
a  forest  of  handkerchiefs  and  white  sheets  waved 
above  the  hill,  and  a  host  of  men  came  spurring  to 
the  fort  with  all  the  Cossacks'  arms  and  fifty-two  hos- 
tages. 


122         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

The  exiles  now  togged  themselves  out  in  all  the 
gay  regimentals  of  the  Russian  officers.  Salutes  of 
triumph  were  fired  from  the  cannon.  A  Te  Deum  was 
sung.  Feast  and  mad  wassail  filled  both  day  and 
night  till  the  harbor  cleared.  Even  the  Cossacks 
caught  the  madcap  spirit  of  the  escapade,  and  helped 
to  load  ammunition  on  the  St.  Peter  and  Paul.  Nor 
were  old  wrongs  forgiven.  Ismyloff  was  bundled  on 
the  vessel  in  irons.  The  chancellor's  secretary  was 
seized  and  compelled  to  act  as  cook.  Men,  who  had 
played  the  spy  and  tyrant,  now  felt  the  merciless 
knout.  Witnesses,  who  had  tried  to  pry  into  the  exiles' 
plot,  were  hanged  at  the  yard-arm.  Nine  women, 
relatives  of  exiles,  who  had  been  compelled  to  become 
the  wives  of  Cossacks,  now  threw  off  the  yoke  of 
slavery,  donned  the  costly  Chinese  silks,  and  joined 
the  pirates.  Among  these  was  the  governor's  daughter, 
who  was  to  have  married  a  Cossack. 

On  May  n,  1771,  the  Polish  flag  was  run  up  on 
the  St.  Peter  and  Paul.  The  fort  fired  a  God-speed  - 
a  heartily  sincere  one,  no  doubt  —  of  twenty-one  guns. 
Again  the  Te  Deum  was  chanted;  again,  the  oath  of 
obedience  taken  by  kissing  Benyowsky's  sword;  and 
at  five  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  ship  dropped  down 
the  river  for  the  sea,  with  ninety-six  exiles  on  board, 
of  whom  nine  were  women;  one,  an  archdeacon; 
half  a  dozen,  officers  of  the  imperial  army;  one,  a 
gentleman  in  waiting  to  the  Empress;  at  least  a  dozen, 
convicts  of  the  blackest  dye. 


THE    POLISH    PIRATE  123 

The  rest  of  Benyowsky's  adventures  read  more  like 
a  page  from  some  pirate  romance  than  sober  record  of 
events  on  the  west  coast  of  America.  Barely  had  the 
vessel  rounded  the  southern  cape  of  the  peninsula  into 
the  Pacific,  when  IsmylofF,  the  young  Russian  trader, 
who  had  been  carried  on  board  in  irons,  rallied  round 
Benyowsky  such  a  clamor  of  mutineers,  duels  were 
fought  on  the  quarter-deck,  the  malcontents  clapped  in 
handcuffs  again,  and  the  ringleaders  tied  to  the  masts, 
where  knouting  enough  was  laid  on  to  make  them  sue 
for  peace. 

The  middle  of  May  saw  the  vessel  anchoring  on  the 
west  coast  of  Bering  Island,  where  a  sharp  lookout  was 
kept  for  Russian  fur  traders,  and  armed  men  must  go 
ashore  to  reconnoitre  before  Benyowsky  dared  venture 
from  the  ship.  The  Pole's  position  was  chancy 
enough  to  satisfy  even  his  melodramatic  soul.  Apart 
from  four  or  five  Swedes,  the  entire  crew  of  ninety-six 
was  Russian.  Benyowsky  was  for  sailing  south  at 
once  to  take  up  quarters  on  some  South  Sea  island,  or 
to  claim  the  protection  of  some  European  power.  The 
Russian  exiles,  of  whom  half  were  criminals,  were  for 
coasting  the  Pacific  on  pirate  venture,  and  compelled 
the  Pole  to  steer  his  vessel  for  the  fur  hunters'  islands 
of  Alaska. 

The  men  sent  to  reconnoitre  Bering  Island  came 
back  with  word  that  while  they  were  gathering  drift- 
wood on  the  south  shore,  they  had  heard  shots  and 
met  five  Russians  belonging  to  a  Saxon  exile,  who  had 


i24         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

turned  fur  hunter,  deposed  the  master  of  his  ships, 
gathered  one  hundred  exiles  around  him,  and  become 
a  trader  on  his  own  account.  The  Saxon  requested 
an  interview  with  Benyowsky.  What  was  the  Pole  to 
do  ?  Was  this  a  decoy  to  test  his  strength  ?  Was  the 
Saxon  planning  to  scuttle  the  Pole's  vessel,  too  ?  Be- 
nyowsky's  answer  was  that  he  would  be  pleased  to  meet 
his  Saxon  comrade  in  arms  on  the  south  shore,  each 
side  to  approach  with  four  men  only,  laying  down 
arms  instantly  on  sight  of  each  other.  The  two  exile 
pirates  met.  Each  side  laid  down  arms  as  agreed. 
Ochotyn,  the  Saxon,  was  a  man  of  thirty-six  years, 
who  had  come  an  exile  on  fur  trading  vessels,  gathered 
a  crew  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  around  him, 
and,  like  the  Pole,  become  a  pirate.  His  plan  in  meet- 
ing Benyowsky  was  to  propose  vengeance  on  Russia : 
let  the  two  ships  unite,  go  back  to  Siberia,  and  sack 
the  Russian  ports  on  the  Pacific.  But  the  Pole  had 
had  enough  of  Russia.  He  contented  himself  with 
presenting  his  brother  pirate  with  one  hundred  pounds 
of  ammunition;  and  the  two  exiles  sat  round  a  camp- 
fire  of  driftwood  far  into  the  night,  spinning  yarns  of 
blasted  hopes  back  in  Europe,  and  desperate  venture 
here  on  the  Pacific.  The  Saxon's  headquarters  were 
on  Kadiak,  where  he  had  formed  alliance  with  the 
Indians.  Hither  he  advised  the  Pole  to  sail  for  a 
cargo  of  furs. 

IsmyloflF,  the   mutineer,   was    marooned    on    Bering 
Island.      Ice-drift  had  seemed  to  bar  the  way  north- 


THE    POLISH    PIRATE  125 

ward  through  Bering  Straits.  June  saw  Benyowsky 
far  eastward  at  Kadiak  on  the  south  shore  of  Alaska, 
gathering  in  a  cargo  of  furs;  and  from  the  sea-otter 
fields  of  Kadiak  and  Oonalaska,  Benyowsky  sailed 
southwest,  past  the  smoking  volcanoes  of  the  Aleu- 
tians, vaguely  heading  for  some  of  those  South  Sea 
islands  of  which  he  used  to  read  in  the  exile  village  of 
Kamchatka. 

Not  a  man  of  the  crew  knew  as  much  about 
navigation  as  a  schoolboy.  They  had  no  idea  where 
they  were  going,  or  where  the  ship  was.  As  day 
after  day  slipped  past  with  no  sight  but  the  heaving 
sea,  the  Russian  landsmen  became  restive.  Provi- 
sions had  dwindled  to  one  fish  a  day;  and  scarcely  a 
pint  of  water  for  each  man  was  left  in  the  hold.  In 
flying  from  Siberian  exile,  were  they  courting  a  worse 
fate  ?  Stephanow,  the  criminal  convict,  who  had 
crossed  Siberia  with  the  Pole,  dashed  on  deck  demand- 
ing a  better  allowance  of  water  as  the  ship  entered 
warmer  and  warmer  zones.  The  next  thing  the  Pole 
knew,  Stephanow  had  burst  open  the  barrel  hoops  of 
the  water  kegs  to  quench  his  thirst.  By  the  time  the 
guard  had  gone  down  the  main  hatch  to  intercept  him, 
Stephanow  and  a  band  of  Russian  mutineers  had 
trundled  the  brandy  casks  to  the  deck  and  were  in  a 
wild  debauch.  The  main  hatch  was  clapped  down, 
leaving  the  mutineers  in  possession  of  the  deck,  till 
all  fell  in  drunken  torpor,  when  Benyowsky  rushed 
his  soldiers  up  the  fore  scuttle,  snapped  handcuffs  on 


ii6         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

the  rebels,  and  tied  them  to  the  masts.  In  the  midst 
of  this  disorder,  such  a  hurricane  broke  over  the  ocean 
that  the  tossing  yard-arms  alternately  touched  water. 

To  be  sure,  Benyowsky  had  escaped  exile;  but  his 
ship  was  a  hornets'  nest.  After  the  storm  all  hands 
were  busy  sewing  new  sails.  The  old  sails  were  dis- 
tributed as  trousers  for  the  ragamuffin  crew.  For  ten 
days  no  food  was  tasted  but  soup  made  from  sea- 
otter  skins.  Then  birds  were  seen,  and  seaweed 
drifted  past  the  vessel;  and  a  wild  hope  mounted 
every  heart  of  reaching  some  part  of  Japan. 

On  sunset  of  July  15,  the  Pole's  watch-dog  was 
noticed  standing  at  the  bow,  sniffing  and  barking. 
Two  or  three  of  the  ship's  hands  dashed  up  to  the 
masthead,  vowing  they  would  not  come  down  till 
they  saw  land.  Suddenly  the  lookout  shouted, 
Land  !  The  exiles  forgot  their  woes.  Even  the  muti- 
neers tied  to  the  masts  cheered.  Darker  and  darker 
grew  the  cloud  on  the  horizon.  By  daybreak  the 
cloud  had  resolved  itself  to  a  shore  before  the  eager 
eyes  of  the  watching  crew.  The  ship  had  scarcely 
anchored  before  every  man  was  overboard  in  a  wild 
rush  for  the  fresh  water  to  be  found  on  land.  Tents 
were  pitched  on  the  island ;  and  the  wanderers  of  the 
sea  rested. 

It  is  no  part  of  this  narrative  to  tell  of  Benyowsky's 
adventures  on  Luzon  of  the  Philippines,  or  the  La- 
drones, — whichever  it  was,  —  how  he  scuttled  Japan- 


THE   POLISH    PIRATE  127 

ese  sampans  of  gold  and  pearls,  fought  a  campaign 
in  Formosa,  and  wound  up  at  Macao,  China,  where 
all  the  rich  cargo  of  sea-otter  brought  from  America 
was  found  to  be  water  rotted;  and  Stephanow,  the 
criminal  convict,  left  the  Pole  destitute  by  stealing  and 
selling  all  the  Japanese  loot. 

This  part  of  the  story  does  not  concern  America;  and 
the  Pole's  whole  life  has  been  told  by  Jokai,  the  Hun- 
garian novelist,  and  Kotzebue,  the  Russian  dramatist. 

Benyowsky  got  passage  to  Europe  from  China  on 
one  of  the  East  India  Company  ships,  whose  captain 
was  uneasy  enough  at  having  so  many  pirates  on  board. 
In  France  he  obtained  an  appointment  to  look  after 
French  forts  in  Madagascar;  but  this  was  too  tame  an 
undertaking  for  the  adventure-loving  Pole.  He  threw 
up  his  appointment,  returned  to  Europe,  interested 
English  merchants  in  a  new  venture,  sailed  to  Balti- 
more in  the  Robert  Anne  of  twenty  cannon  and  four 
hundred  and  fifty  tons,  interested  merchants  there  in 
his  schemes,  and  departed  from  Baltimore  October  25, 
1784,  to  conquer  Madagascar  and  set  up  an  indepen- 
dent commercial  government.  Here  he  was  slain  by 
the  French  troops  on  the  23d  of  May,  1786  —  to  the 
ruin  of  those  Baltimore  and  London  merchants  who 
had  advanced  him  capital.  His  own  account  of  his 
adventures  is  full  of  gross  exaggerations ;  but  even  the 
Russians  were  so  impressed  with  the  prowess  of  his 
valor  that  a  few  years  later,  when  Cook  sailed  to  Alaska, 
IsmylofF  could  not  be  brought  to  mention  his  name; 


128         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

and  when  the  English  ships  went  on  to  Kamchatka, 
they  found  the  inhabitants  hidden  in  the  cellars,  for 
fear  the  Polish  pirate  had  returned.  But  like  many 
heroes  of  misfortune,  Benyowsky  could  not  stand  suc- 
cess. It  turned  his  head.  He  entered  Macao  with 
the  airs  of  an  emperor,  that  at  once  discredited  him 
with  the  solid  people.  If  he  had  returned  to  the  west 
coast  of  America,  as  a  fur  trader,  he  might  have 
wrested  more  honors  from  Russia;  but  his  scheme  to 
capture  an  island  of  which  he  was  to  be  king,  ended  in 
ruin  for  himself  and  his  friends.1 


1  It  may  as  well  be  acknowledged  that  Mauritius  Augustus,  Count  Benyowsky 
(pronounced  by  himself  Be-nyov-sky),  is  a  liar  without  a  peer  among  the  adventurers 
of  early  American  history.  If  it  were  not  that  his  life  was  known  to  the  famous 
men  of  his  time,  his  entire  memoirs  from  1741  to  1771  might  be  rejected  as  fiction 
of  the  yellow  order ;  but  the  comical  thing  is,  the  mendacious  fellow  cut  a  tremen- 
dous swath  in  his  day.  The  garrisons  of  Kamchatka  trembled  at  his  name  twenty-five 
years  after  his  escapades.  IsmylofF,  who  became  a  famous  trader  in  the  Russian  Fur 
Company,  could  not  be  induced  to  open  his  mouth  about  the  Pole  to  Cook,  and  actually 
made  use  of  the  universal  fear  of  Benyowsky  among  Russians,  to  keep  Cook  from 
learning  Russian  fur  trade  secrets,  when  the  Englishman  went  to  Kamchatka,  by  repre- 
senting that  Cook  was  a  pirate,  too.  The  Gentleman's  Magatune  for  June,  177*, 
contained  a  letter  from  Canton,  dated  November  19,  1771,  giving  a  full  account  of  the 
pirate's  arrival  there  with  his  mutineers  and  women  refugees.  The  Bishop  Le  Bon 
of  Macao  writes,  September  14,  1771  :  "Out  of  his  equipage,  there  remain  no  more 
than  eight  men  in  health.  All  the  rest  are  confined  to  their  beds.  For  two  months 
they  suffered  hunger  and  thirst."  Captain  King  of  Cook's  staff  writes  of  Kamchatka  : 
"  We  were  informed  that  an  exiled  Polish  officer  named  Beniowski  had  seized  upon  a 
galliott,  lying  at  the  entrance  of  the  harbor,  and  had  forced  on  board  a  number  of 
Russian  sailors,  sufficient  to  navigate  her ;  that  he  had  put  on  shore  a  part  of  the 
crew  .  .  .  among  the  rest,  IsmylofF."  In  Paris  he  met  and  interested  Benjamin 
Franklin.  Hyacinth  de  Magellan,  a  descendant  of  the  great  discoverer,  advanced 
Benyowsky  money  for  the  Madagascar  filibustering  expedition.  So  did  certain  mer- 
chants of  Baltimore  in  1785.  On  leaving  England,  Benyowsky  gave  his  memoirs  to 
Magellan,  who  passed  their  editing  over  to  William  Nicholson  of  the  Royal  Society,  by 


THE   POLISH    PIRATE  129 

whom  they  were  given  to  the  world  in  1790.  German,  French,  and  Russian  transla- 
tions followed.  This  called  forth  Russia's  account  of  the  matter,  written  by  Ivan 
Ryumin,  edited  by  Berg,  St.  Petersburg,  182,2.  These  accounts,  with  the  facts  as  cited 
from  contemporaries,  enable  one  to  check  the  preposterous  exaggerations  of  the  Pole. 
Of  late  years,  between  drama  and  novels,  quite  a  Benyowsky  literature  has  sprung  up  about 
this  Cagliostro  of  the  sea.  His  record  in  the  continental  armies  preceding  his  exile 
would  fill  a  book  by  itself;  and  throughout  all,  Benyowsky  appears  in  the  same  light, 
an  unscrupulous  braggart  lying  gloriously,  but  withal  as  courageous  as  he  was  mendacious. 


PART    II 

AMERICAN  AND  ENGLISH  ADVENTURERS  ON  THE 
WEST  COAST  OF  AMERICA  —  FRANCIS  DRAKE 
IN  CALIFORNIA  — COOK,  FROM  BRITISH  CO- 
LUMBIA TO  ALASKA  — LEDYARD,  THE  FORE- 
RUNNER OF  LEWIS  AND  CLARK  — GRAY,  THE 
DISCOVERER  OF  THE  COLUMBIA  — VANCOUVER, 
THE  LAST  OF  THE  WEST  COAST  NAVIGATORS 


CHAPTER   VI 

1562-1595 
FRANCIS   DRAKE   IN   CALIFORNIA 

How  the  Sea  Rover  was  attacked  and  ruined  as  a  Boy  on  the 
Spanish  Main  off  Mexico  —  His  Revenge  in  sacking  Spanish  Treas- 
ure Houses  and  crossing  Panama  —  The  Richest  Man  in  England, 
he  sails  to  the  Forbidden  Sea,  scuttles  all  the  Spanish  Ports  up  the 
West  Coast  of  South  America  and  takes  Possession  of  New  Albion 
(California)  for  England 

IF  a  region  were  discovered  where  gold  was  valued 
less  than  cartloads  of  clay,  and  ropes  of  pearls  could  be 
obtained  in  barter  for  strings  of  glass  beads,  the 
modern  mind  would  have  some  idea  of  the  frenzy  that 
prevailed  in  Spain  after  the  discovery  of  America  by 
Columbus.  Native  temples  were  found  in  Chile,  in 
Peru,  in  Central  America,  in  Mexico,  where  gold 
literally  lined  the  walls,  silver  paved  the  floors,  and 
handfuls  of  pearls  were  as  thoughtlessly  thrown  in 
the  laps  of  the  conquerors  as  shells  might  be  tossed  at 
a  modern  clam-bake. 

Within  half  a  century  from  the  time  Spain  first 
learned  of  America,  Cortes  not  only  penetrated  Mex- 
ico, but  sent  his  corsairs  up  the  west  coast  of  the  con- 

133 


134         VIKINGS    OF   THE    PACIFIC 

tinent.  Pizarro  conquered  Peru.  Spanish  ships  plied 
a  trade  rich  beyond  dreams  of  avarice  between  the 
gold  realms  of  Peru  and  the  spice  islands  of  the  Philip- 
pines. The  chivalry  of  the  Spanish  nobility  suddenly 
became  a  chivalry  of  the  high  seas.  Religious  zeal 
burned  to  a  flame  against  those  gold-lined  pagan 
temples.  It  was  easy  to  believe  that  the  transfer  of 
wedges  of  pure  gold  from  heathen  hands  to  Spain 
was  a  veritable  despoiling  of  the  devil's  treasure  boxes, 
glorious  in  the  sight  of  God.  The  trackless  sea  be- 
came the  path  to  fortune.  Balboa  had  deeper  motives 
than  loyalty,  when,  in  1513,  on  his  march  across  Panama 
and  discovery  of  the  Pacific,  he  rushed  mid-deep  into 
the  water,  shouting  out  in  swelling  words  that  he 
took  possession  of  earth,  air,  and  water  for  Spain  "for 
all  time,  past,  present,  or  to  come,  without  contradic- 
tion, .  .  .  north  and  south,  with  all  the  seas  from  the 
Pole  Arctic  to  the  Pole  Antarctic,  .  .  .  both  now,  and 
as  long  as  the  world  endures,  until  the  final  day  of 
judgment."  l 

Shorn  of  noise,  the  motive  was  simply  to  shut  out 
the  rest  of  the  world  from  Spain's  treasure  box.  The 
Monroe  Doctrine  was  not  yet  born.  The  whole  Pacific 
was  to  be  a  closed  sea!  To  be  sure,  Vasco  da  Gama 
had  found  the  way  round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to 
the  Indian  Ocean ;  and  Magellan  soon  after  passed 
through  the  strait  of  his  name  below  South  America 

1  This  is  but  a  brief  epitome  of  the  Spaniard's  swelling  words.  Only  the  Heavens 
above  were  omitted  from  Spain's  claim. 


Sir  John  Hawkins. 


FRANCIS   DRAKE   IN   CALIFORNIA     135 

right  into  the  Pacific  Ocean;  but  round  the  world  by 
the  Indian  Ocean  was  a  far  cry  for  tiny  craft  of  a  few 
hundred  tons;  and  the  Straits  of  Magellan  were  so 
storm-bound,  it  soon  became  a  common  saying  that 
they  were  a  closed  door.  Spain  sent  her  sailors  across 
Panama  to  build  ships  for  the  Pacific.  The  sea  that 
bore  her  treasure  craft  —  millions  upon  millions  of 
pounds  sterling  in  pure  gold,  silver,  emeralds,  pearls 
—  was  as  closed  to  the  rest  of  the  world  as  if  walled 
round  with  only  one  chain-gate;  and  that  at  Panama, 
where  Spain  kept  the  key. 

That  is,  the  sea  was  shut  till  Drake  came  coursing 
round  the  world;  and  his  coming  was  so  utterly  im- 
possible to  the  Spanish  mind  that  half  the  treasure 
ships  scuttled  by  the  English  pirate  mistook  him  for  a 
visiting  Spaniard  till  the  rallying  cry,  "God  and  Saint 
George!"  wakened  them  from  their  dream. 

It  was  by  accident  the  English  first  found  themselves 
in  the  waters  of  the  Spanish  Main.  John  Hawkins 
had  been  cruising  the  West  Indies  exchanging  slaves 
for  gold,  when  an  ominous  stillness  fell  on  the  sea. 
The  palm  trees  took  on  the  hard  glister  of  metal  leaves. 
The  sunless  sky  turned  yellow,  the  sea  to  brass;  and 
before  the  six  English  ships  could  find  shelter,  a  hur- 
ricane broke  that  flailed  the  fleet  under  sails  torn  to 
tatters  clear  across  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  Vera  Cruz, 
the  stronghold  of  Spanish  power. 

But   Hawkins   feared    neither    man   nor  devil.      He 


136         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

reefed  his  storm-torn  sails,  had  the  stoppers  pulled  out 
of  his  cannon  in  readiness,  his  gunners  alert,  ran  up 
the  English  ensign,  and  boldly  towed  his  fleet  into  port 
directly  under  Spanish  guns.  Sending  a  messenger 
ashore,  he  explained  that  he  was  sorry  to  intrude  on 
forbidden  waters,  but  that  he  needed  to  careen  his 
ships  for  the  repair  of  leakages,  and  now  asked  per- 
mission from  the  viceroy  to  refit.  Perhaps,  in  his 
heart,  the  English  adventurer  wasn't  sorry  to  get  an 
inner  glimpse  of  Mexico's  defences.  As  he  waited  for 
permission,  there  sailed  into  the  harbor  the  Spanish 
fleet  itself,  twelve  merchantmen  rigged  as  frigates, 
loaded  with  treasure  to  the  value  of  one  million  eight 
hundred  thousand  pounds.  The  viceroy  of  Mexico, 
Don  Martin  Henriquez  himself,  commanded  the  fleet. 
English  and  Spanish  ships  dipped  colors  to  each  other 
as  courteous  hidalgoes  might  have  doffed  hats;  and 
the  guns  roared  each  other  salutes,  that  set  the  seas 
churning.  Master  John  Hawkins  quaffed  mug  after 
mug  of  foaming  beer  with  a  boisterous  boast  that  if 
the  Spaniards  thought  to  frighten  him  with  a  waste  of 
powder  and  smoke,  he  could  play  the  same  game,  and 
"singe  the  don's  beard." 

Came  a  messenger,  then,  clad  in  mail  to  his  teeth,  very 
pompous,  very  gracious,  very  profuse  of  welcome,  with 
a  guarantee  in  writing  from  the  viceroy  of  security  for 
Hawkins  while  dismantling  the  English  ships.  In 
order  to  avoid  clashes  among  the  common  soldiers,  the 
fortified  island  was  assigned  for  the  English  to  disem- 


FRANCIS  DRAKE  IN   CALIFORNIA     137 

bark.  It  was  the  I2th  of  August,  1568.  Darkness 
fell  with  the  warm  velvet  caress  of  a  tropic  sea.  Half 
the  crew  had  landed,  half  the  cannon  been  trundled 
ashore  for  the  vessels  to  be  beached  next  day,  when 
Hawkins  noticed  torches  —  a  thousand  torches  — 
glistening  above  the  mailed  armor  of  a  thousand  Span- 
ish soldiers  marching  down  from  the  fort  and  being 
swiftly  transferred  to  the  frigates.  A  blare  of  Spanish 
trumpets  blew  to  arms !  The  waters  were  suddenly 
alight  with  the  flare  of  five  fire-rafts  drifting  straight 
where  the  disarmed  English  fleet  lay  moored.  Haw- 
kins had  just  called  his  page  to  hand  round  mugs  of 
beer,  when  a  cannon-shot  splintering  through  the  mast 
arms  overhead  ripped  the  tankard  out  of  his  hand.1 

"God  and  Saint  George,"  thundered  the  enraged 
Englishman,  "down  with  the  traitorous  devils!" 

No  time  to  save  sailors  ashore  !  The  blazing  rafts  had 
already  bumped  keels  with  the  moored  fleet.  No  chance 
to  raise  anchors !  The  Spanish  frigates  were  already 
abreast  in  a  life-and-death  grapple,  soldiers  boarding 
the  English  decks,  sabring  the  crews,  hurling  hand 
grenades  down  the  hatches  to  blow  up  the  powder 
magazines.  Hawkins  roared  "to  cut  the  cables."  It 
was  a  hand-to-hand  slaughter  on  decks  slippery  with 
blood.  No  light  but  the  musketry  fire  and  glare  of 
burning  masts !  The  little  English  company  were 
fighting  like  a  wild  beast  trapped,  when  with  a  thunder- 

1  The  exact  position  of  the  English  towards  the  port  is  hard  to  give ;  as  the  site  of 
Vera  Cruz  has  been  changed  three  times. 


138          VIKINGS    OF   THE    PACIFIC 

clap  that  tore  bottom  out  of  hull  —  Hawkins's  ship 
flew  into  mid-air,  a  flaring,  fiery  wreck — then  sank 
in  the  heaving  trough  of  the  sea,  carrying  down  five 
hundred  Spaniards  to  a  watery  grave.  Cutlass  in 
hand,  head  over  heels  went  Hawkins  into  the  sea. 
The  hell  of  smoke,  of  flaming  mast  poles,  of  blazing 
musketry,  of  churning  waters  —  hid  him.  Then  a 
rope's  end  flung  out  by  some  friend  gave  handhold. 
He  was  up  the  sides  of  a  ship,  that  had  cut  hawsers 
and  ofF  before  the  fire-rafts  came !  Sails  were  hoisted 
to  the  seaward  breeze.  In  the  carnage  of  fire  and 
blood,  the  Spaniards  did  not  see  the  two  smallest 
English  vessels  scudding  before  the  wind  as  if  fiend- 
chased.  Every  light  on  the  decks  was  put  out.  Then 
the  dark  of  the  tropic  night  hid  them.  Without  food, 
without  arms,  with  scarcely  a  remnant  of  their  crews 
-  the  two  ships  drifted  to  sea. 

Not  a  man  of  the  sailors  ashore  escaped.  All  were 
butchered,  or  taken  prisoners  for  a  fate  worse  than 
butchery  —  to  be  torn  apart  in  the  market-place  of 
Vera  Cruz,  baited  in  the  streets  to  the  yells  of  on- 
lookers, hung  by  the  arms  to  out-of-doors  scaffolding 
to  die  by  inches,  or  be  torn  by  vultures.  The  two 
ships  at  sea  were  in  terrible  plight.  North,  west,  south 
was  the  Spanish  foe.  Food  there  was  none.  The 
crews  ate  the  dogs,  monkeys,  parrots  on  board.  Then 
they  set  traps  for  the  rats  of  the  hold.  The  starving 
seamen  begged  to  be  marooned.  They  would  risk 
Spanish  cruelty  to  escape  starvation.  Hawkins  landed 


FRANCIS   DRAKE   IN   CALIFORNIA     139 

three-quarters  of  the  remnant  crews  either  in  Yuca- 
tan or  Florida.  Then  he  crept  lamely  back  to  Eng- 
land, where  he  moored  in  January,  1569. 

Of  the  six  splendid  ships  that  had  spread  their 
sails  from  Plymouth,  only  the  Minion  and  Judith 
came  back;  and  those  two  had  been  under  command 
of  a  thick-set,  stocky,  red-haired  English  boy  about 
twenty-four  years  of  age  —  Francis  Drake  of  Devon, 
one  of  twelve  sons  of  a  poor  clergyman,  who  eked  out 
a  living  by  reading  prayers  for  the  Queen's  Navy 
Sundays,  playing  sailor  week  days.  Francis,  the  eld- 
est son,  was  born  in  the  hull  of  an  old  vessel  where  the 
family  had  taken  refuge  in  time  of  religious  persecu- 
tion. In  spite  of  his  humble  origin,  Sir  Francis  Rus- 
sell had  stood  his  godfather  at  baptism.  The  Earl 
of  Bedford  had  been  his  patron.  John  Hawkins,  a 
relative,  supplied  money  for  his  education.  Appren- 
ticed before  the  mast  from  his  twelfth  year,  Drake 
became  purser  to  Biscay  at  eighteen;  and  so  faithfully 
had  he  worked  his  way,  when  the  master  of  the  sloop 
died,  it  was  bequeathed  to  young  Drake.  Emulous 
of  becoming  a  great  sailor  like  Hawkins,  Drake  sold 
the  sloop  and  invested  everything  he  owned  in  Haw- 
kins's venture  to  the  West  Indies.  He  was  ruined  to 
his  last  penny  by  Spanish  treachery.  It  was  almost 
a  religion  for  England  to  hate  Spain  at  that  time. 
Drake  hated  tenfold  more  now.  Spain  had  taught 
the  world  to  keep  off  her  treasure  box.  Would  Drake 
accept  the  lesson,  or  challenge  it  ? 


i4o         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

Men  who  master  destiny  rise,  like  the  Phenix,  from 
the  ashes  of  their  own  ruin.  In  the  language  of  the 
street,  when  they  fall  —  these  men  of  destiny  —  they 
make  a  point  of  falling  w/>stairs.  Amid  the  ruin  of 
massacre  in  Mexico,  Drake  brought  away  one  fact  - 
memory  of  Spanish  gold  to  the  value  of  one  million 
eight  hundred  thousand  pounds.  Where  did  it  come 
from  ?  Was  the  secret  of  that  gold  the  true  reason  for 
Spain's  resentment  against  all  intruders  ?  Drake  had 
coasted  Florida  and  the  West  Indies.  He  knew  they 
yielded  no  such  harvest.  Then  it  must  come  from  one 
of  three  other  regions  —  South  America,  Central 
America,  Mexico. 

For  two  years  Drake  prospected  for  the  sources  of 
that  golden  wealth.  In  the  Dragon  and  Swan,  he 
cruised  the  Spanish  Main  during  1570.  In  1571  he  was 
out  again  in  the  Swan.  By  1572  he  knew  the  secret 
of  that  gold  —  gold  in  ship-loads,  in  caravans  of  one 
thousand  mules,  in  masses  that  filled  from  cellar  to 
attic  of  the  King's  Treasure  House,  where  tribute  of 
one-fifth  was  collected  for  royalty.  It  came  from  the 
subjugated  Kingdom  of  Peru,  by  boat  up  the  Pacific 
to  the  Port  of  Panama,  by  pack-train  across  the  isthmus 
-  mountainous,  rugged,  forests  of  mangroves  tangled 
with  vines,  bogs  that  were  bottomless  —  to  Nombre  de 
Dios,  the  Spanish  fort  on  the  Atlantic  side,  which  had 
become  the  storehouse  of  all  New  Spain.  Drake  took 
counsel  of  no  one. 

Next  year  he  was  back  on  the  Spanish  Main,  in  the 


FRANCIS   DRAKE   IN  CALIFORNIA     141 

Pacha,  forty-seven  men;  his  brother  John  commanding 
the  Swan  with  twenty-six  of  a  crew,  only  one  man  older 
than  fifty,  the  rest  mere  boys  with  hate  in  their  hearts 
for  Spanish  blood,  love  in  their  hearts  for  Spanish  gold. 
Touching  at  a  hidden  cove  for  provisions  left  the  year 
before,  Drake  found  this  warning  from  a  former  com- 
rade, stuck  to  the  bark  of  a  tree  by  a  hunting  knife :  — 

"Captain  Drake  —  //  you  do  fortune  into  this  port, 
haste  away ;  for  the  Spaniards  have  betrayed  this  place, 
and  taken  all  away  that  you  left  here  —  your  loving 
friend --John  Garret." 

Heeding  the  warning,  Drake  hastened  away  to  the 
Isle  of  Pinos,  off  the  isthmus,  left  the  ships  at  a  con- 
cealed cove  here,  armed  fifty-three  of  his  boldest  fellows 
with  muskets,  crossbows,  pikes,  and  spontoons.  Then 
he  called  for  drummers  and  trumpeters,  and  rowed  in  a 
small  boat  for  Nombre  de  Dios,  the  treasure  house  of 
New  Spain.  The  small  boat  kept  on  the  offing  till 
dark,  then  sent  ashore  for  some  Indians  —  half-breeds 
whom  Spanish  cruelty  had  driven  to  revolt.  This  in- 
creased Drake's  force  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  men. 
Silently,  just  as  the  moon  emerged  from  clouds  light- 
ing up  harbor  and  town,  the  long-boat  glided  into 
Nombre  de  Dios.  A  high  platform,  mounted  with 
brass  cannon,  fronted  the  water.  Behind  were  thirty 
houses,  thatch-roofed,  whitewashed,  palisaded,  sur- 
rounded by  courtyards  with  an  almost  European  pomp. 
The  King's  Treasure  House  stood  at  one  end  of  the  mar- 
ket. Near  it  was  a  chapel  with  high  wooden  steeple. 


i42         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

A  Spanish  ship  lay  furled  in  port.  From  this 
glided  out  a  punt  poled  like  mad  by  a  Spaniard  racing 
to  reach  the  platform  first.  Drake  got  athwart  the 
fellow's  path,  knocked  him  over,  gagged  his  yells,  and 
was  up  the  platform  before  the  sleepy  gunner  on  guard 
was  well  awake.  The  sentry  only  paused  to  make  sure 
that  the  men  scrambling  up  the  fort  were  not  ghosts. 
Then  he  tore  at  the  top  of  his  speed  for  the  alarm-bell 
of  the  chapel  and,  clapping  down  the  hatch  door  of  the 
steeple  stairs  in  the  faces  of  the  pursuing  Englishmen, 
rang  the  bells  like  a  demon  possessed. 

Leaving  twelve  men  to  hold  the  platform  as  a  retreat, 
Drake  sent  sixteen  to  attack  the  King's  Treasure  just 
at  the  moment  he  himself,  with  his  hundred  men, 
should  succeed  in  drawing  the  entire  Spanish  garrison 
to  a  sham  battle  on  the  market-place.  The  cannon  on 
the  platform  were  spiked  and  overturned.  Drums 
beating,  trumpets  blowing,  torches  aflare,  the  English 
freebooter  marched  straight  to  the  market.  Up  at  the 
Treasure  House,  John  Drake  and  Oxenham  had  burst 
open  the  doors  of  the  store-room  just  as  the  saddled 
mules  came  galloping  to  carry  the  booty  beyond  danger. 
A  lighted  candle  on  the  cellar  stair  showed  silver  piled 
bar  on  bar  to  the  value  of  one  million  pounds.  Down 
on  the  market,  the  English  trumpeter  lay  dead.  Drake 
had  fallen  from  a  sword  slash  and,  snatched  up  by  com- 
rades, the  wound  stanched  by  a  scarf,  was  carried  back 
to  the  boat,  where  the  raiders  made  good  their  escape, 
richer  by  a  million  pounds  with  the  loss  of  only  one  man. 


FRANCIS   DRAKE   IN  CALIFORNIA     143 

Drake  cruised  the  Spanish  Main  for  six  more  months. 
From  the  Indians  he  learned  that  the  mule  trains  with 
the  yearly  output  of  Peruvian  gold  would  leave  the 
Pacific  in  midwinter  to  cross  overland  to  Nombre  de 
Dios.  No  use  trying  to  raid  the  fort  again !  Spain 
would  not  be  caught  napping  a  second  time.  But 
Pedro,  a  Panama  Indian,  had  volunteered  to  guide  a 
small  band  of  lightly  equipped  English  inland  behind 
Nombre  de  Dios,  to  the  halfway  house  where  the  gold 
caravans  stopped.  The  audacity  of  the  project  is  un- 
paralleled. Eighteen  boys  led  by  a  man  not  yet  in  his 
thirtieth  year  accompanied  by  Indians  were  to  invade  a 
tangled  thicket  of  hostile  country,  cut  off  from  retreat, 
the  forts  of  the  enemy — the  crudest  enemy  in  Christen- 
dom— on  each  side,  no  provisions  but  what  each  car- 
ried in  his  haversack ! 

Led  by  the  Indian  Pedro,  the  freebooters  struck 
across  country,  picked  up  the  trail  behind  Nombre  de 
Dios,  marched  by  night,  hid  by  day,  Indian  scouts 
sending  back  word  when  a  Spaniard  was  seen,  the 
English  scudding  to  ambush  in  the  tangled  woods. 
Twelve  days  and  nights  they  marched.  At  ten  in 
the  morning  of  February  n,  they  were  on  the  Great 
Divide.  Pedro  led  Drake  to  the  top  of  the  hill.  Up 
the  trunk  of  an  enormous  tree,  the  Indians  had  cut 
steps  to  a  kind  of  bower,  or  lookout.  Up  clambered 
Francis  Drake.  Then  he  looked  westward. 

Mountains,  hills,  forested  valleys,  rolled  from  his 
feet  westward.  Beyond  —  what  ?  The  shining  ex- 


144         VIKINGS    OF   THE    PACIFIC 

panse  of  the  fabled  South  Sea !  The  Pacific  silver  in 
the  morning  light !  A  New  World  of  Waters,  where 
the  sun's  track  seemed  to  pave  a  new  path,  a  path  of 
gold,  to  the  mystic  Orient !  Never  before  had  English 
eyes  seen  these  waters !  Never  yet  English  prow  cut 
these  waves !  Where  did  they  lead  —  the  endlessly 
rolling  billows  ?  For  Drake,  they  seemed  to  lead  to  a 
New  World  of  Dreams  —  dreams  of  gold,  of  glory,  of 
immortal  fame.'  He  came  down  from  the  lookout  so 
overcome  with  a  great  inspiration  that  he  could  not 
speak.  Then,  as  with  Balboa,  the  fire  of  a  splendid 
enthusiasm  lighted  up  the  mean  purposes  of  the  ad- 
venturer to  a  higher  manhood.  Before  his  followers, 
he  fell  on  his  knees  and  prayed  Almighty  God  to  grant 
him  the  supreme  honor  of  sailing  an  English  ship  on 
that  sea ! 

That  night  the  Indian  came  back  with  word  that  the 
mule  train  laden  with  gold  was  close  on  the  trail. 
Drake  scattered  his  men  on  each  side  of  the  road  flat 
on  their  faces  in  high  grass.  Wealth  was  almost  in  their 
grasp.  Hope  beat  riotous  in  the  young  bloods.  No 
sound  but  the  whir  of  wings  as  great  tropic  insects 
flitted  through  the  dark  with  flashes  of  fire ;  or  the  clank 
of  a  soldier  unstrapping  haversack  to  steel  courage  by 
a  drink  of  grog  !  An  hour  passed  !  Two  hours  before 
the  eager  ears  pressed  to  earth  detected  a  padded  hoof- 
beat  over  grass.  Then  a  bell  tinkled,  as  the  leader  of 
the  pack  came  in  sight.  Drunk  with  the  glory  of  the 
day,  or  too  much  grog,  some  fool  sailor  leaped  in  mid- 


FRANCIS   DRAKE   IN   CALIFORNIA     145 

air  with  an  exultant  yell !     In  a  second  the  mule  train 
had  stampeded. 

By  the  time  Drake  came  to  the  halfway  house,1 
the  gold  was  hidden  in  the  woods,  and  the  Spaniards 
fleeing  for  their  lives ;  though  an  old  chronicle  declares 
"the  general"  went  from  house  to  house  assuring  the 
Spanish  ladies  they  were  safe.  The  Spaniards  of 
Tierra  Firme  were  simply  paralyzed  with  fright  at  the 
apparition  of  pirates  in  the  centre  of  the  kingdom. 
Then  scouts  brought  word  of  double  danger:  on  the 
Atlantic  side,  Spanish  frigates  were  searching  for 
Drake's  ships;  from  the  Pacific,  two  hundred  horse- 
men were  advancing  in  hot  pursuit.  Between  the  two 
-  was  he  trapped  ?  —  Not  he !  Overland  went  a 
scout  to  the  ships  —  Drake's  own  gold  toothpick  as 
token  —  bidding  them  keep  offshore;  he  would  find 
means  to  come  out  to  them.  Then  he  retreated  over 
the  trail  at  lightning  pace,  sleeping  only  in  ambush, 
eating  in  snatches,  coming  out  on  the  coast  far  distant 
from  Nombre  de  Dios  and  Spanish  frigates.  Binding 
driftwood  into  a  raft,  Drake  hoisted  sail  of  flour  sacks. 
Saying  good-by  to  the  Indian,  the  freebooter  noticed 
Pedro's  eyes  wander  to  the  gold-embossed  Turkish 
cimeter  in  his  own  hand,  and  at  once  presented  scab- 
bard and  blade  to  the  astonished  savage.  In  gratitude 
the  Indian  tossed  three  wedges  of  gold  to  the  raft  now 
sheering  out  with  the  tide  to  sea.  These  Drake  gave 

1  This  halfway  station  was  known  as  Venta  Cruz.     Seven  of  the  traders  lost  their 
lives  in  Drake's  attack. 


146         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

to  his  men.  Six  hours  the  raft  was  drifting  to  the  sails 
on  the  offing,  and  such  seas  were  slopping  across  the 
water-logged  driftwood,  the  men  were  to  their  waists 
in  water  when  the  sail-boats  came  to  the  rescue. 

On  Sunday  morning,  August  9,  1573,  the  ships  were 
once  more  in  Plymouth.  Whispers  ran  through  the 
assembled  congregations  of  the  churches  that  Drake, 
the  bold  sea-rover,  was  entering  port  loaded  with 
foreign  treasure;  and  out  rushed  every  man,  woman, 
and  child,  leaving  the  scandalized  preachers  thunder- 
ing to  empty  pews. 

Drake  was  now  one  of  the  richest  men  in  England. 
At  his  own  cost  he  equipped  three  frigates  for  service 
under  Essex  in  Ireland,  and  through  the  young  Earl 
was  introduced  to  the  circle  of  Elizabeth's  advisers. 
To  the  Queen  he  told  his  plans  for  sailing  an  English 
ship  on  the  South  Sea.  To  her,  no  doubt,  he  related 
the  tales  of  Spanish  gold  freighting  that  sea,  closed  to 
the  rest  of  the  world.  Good  reason  for  England  - 
Spain's  enemy  —  to  prove  that  the  ocean,  like  air,  was 
free  to  all  nations !  The  Pope's  Bull  dividing  off  the 
southern  hemisphere  between  Portugal  and  Spain 
mattered  little  to  a  nation  belligerently  Protestant,  and 
less  to  a  seaman  whose  dauntless  daring  had  raised 
him  from  a  wharf-rat  to  Queen's  adviser.  Elizabeth 
could  not  yet  wound  Spain  openly;  but  she  received 
Drake  in  audience,  and  presented  him  a  magnificent 
sword  with  the  words-  "Who  striketh  thee,  Drake, 
striketh  us!" 


o 


FRANCIS  DRAKE   IN   CALIFORNIA     147 

Five  ships,  this  time,  he  led  out  from  Plymouth  in 
November  of  1577.  Gales  drove  him  back.  It  was 
December  before  his  fleet  was  at  sea  —  the  Pelican  of 
one  hundred  tons  and  twenty  or  thirty  cannon  under 
Drake,  Thomas  Doughty,  a  courtier  second  to  Drake, 
the  Elizabeth  of  eighty  tons,  the  Swan,  Christopher, 
and  Mary  gold  no  larger  than  fishing  schooners ;  manned 
in  all  by  one  hundred  and  sixty  sailors,  mostly  boys. 

Outward  bound  for  trade  in  Egypt,  the  world  was 
told,  but  as  merchantmen,  the  ships  were  regally 
equipped  —  Drake  in  velvets  and  gold  braid,  served 
by  ten  young  gentlemen  of  noble  birth,  who  never  sat 
or  covered  in  his  presence  without  permission;  service 
of  gold  plate  at  the  mess  table,  where  Drake  dined 
alone  like  a  king  to  the  music  of  viols  and  harps;  mili- 
tary drill  at  every  port,  and  provisions  enough  aboard 
to  go  round  the  world,  not  just  to  Egypt. 

January  saw  the  fleet  far  enough  from  Egypt,  at  the 
islands  off  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  where  three  vessels 
were  scuttled,  the  crews  all  put  ashore  but  one  Portu- 
guese pilot  carried  along  to  Brazil  as  guide.  Thomas 
Doughty  now  fell  in  disfavor  by  openly  acting  as  equal 
in  command  with  Drake.  Not  in  Egypt,  but  at  Port 
St.  Julian  —  a  southern  harbor  of  South  America  — 
anchored  Drake's  fleet.  The  scaffold  where  Magellan 
had  executed  mutineers  half  a  century  before  still  stood 
in  the  sands. 

The  Christopher  had  already  been  sent  adrift  as  use- 
less. The  Swan  was  now  broken  up  as  unseaworthy, 


148          VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

leaving  only  the  Pelican,  the  Elizabeth,  and  the  Mary- 
gold.  One  thing  more  remained  to  be  done  —  the 
greatest  blot  across  the  glory  of  Drake.  Doughty  was 
defiant,  a  party  growing  in  his  favor.  When  sent  as 
prisoner  to  the  Marygold,  he  had  angered  every  man  of 
the  crew  by  high-handed  authority.  Drake  dared  not 
go  on  to  unknown,  hostile  seas  with  a  mutiny,  or  the 
chance  of  a  mutiny  brewing.  Whether  justly  or  un- 
justly, Doughty  was  tried  at  Port  St.  Julian  under  the 
shadow  of  Magellan's  old  scaffold,  for  disrespect  to 
his  commander  and  mutiny;  and  was  pronounced 
guilty  by  a  jury  of  twelve.  A  council  of  forty  voted 
his  death.  The  witnesses  had  contradicted  themselves 
as  if  in  terror  of  Drake's  displeasure;  and  some  plainly 
pleaded  that  the  jealous  crew  of  the  Marygold  were 
doing  an  innocent  gentleman  to  death.  The  one  thing 
Drake  would  not  do,  was  carry  the  trouble  maker 
along  on  the  voyage.  Like  dominant  spirits  world 
over,  he  did  not  permit  a  life  more  or  less  to  obstruct 
his  purpose.  He  granted  Doughty  a  choice  of  fates  - 
to  be  marooned  in  Patagonia,  or  suffer  death  on  the 
spot.  Protesting  his  innocence,  Doughty  spurned 
the  least  favor  from  his  rival.  He  refused  the  choice. 

Solemnly  the  two,  accuser  and  accused,  took  Holy 
Communion  together.  Solemnly  each  called  on  God 
as  witness  to  the  truth.  A  day  each  spent  in  prayer, 
these  pirate  fellows,  who  mixed  their  religion  with  their 
robbery,  perhaps  using  piety  as  sugar-coating  for 
their  ill-deeds.  Then  they  dined  together  in  the 


FRANCIS   DRAKE   IN   CALIFORNIA     149 

commander's  tent,  —  Fletcher,  the  horrified  chaplain, 
looking  on,  —  drank  hilariously  to  each  other's  healths, 
to  each  other's  voyage  whatever  the  end  might  be, 
looked  each  in  the  eye  of  the  other  without  quailing, 
talking  nonchalantly,  never  flinching  courage  nor  balk- 
ing at  the  grim  shadow  of  their  own  stubborn  temper. 
Doughty  then  rose  to  his  feet,  drank  his  last  bumper, 
thanked  Drake  graciously  for  former  kindness,  walked 
calmly  out  to  the  old  scaffold,  laid  his  head  on  the 
block,  and  suffered  death.  Horror  fell  on  the  crew. 
Even  Drake  was  shaken  from  his  wonted  calm ;  for  he 
sat  apart,  his  velvet  cloak  thrown  back,  slapping  his 
crossed  knees,  and  railing  at  the  defenders  of  the  dead 
man.1  To  rouse  the  men,  he  had  solemn  service  held 
for  the  crew,  and  for  the  first  time  revealed  to  them  his 
project  for  the  voyage  on  the  Pacific.  After  painting 
the  glories  of  a  campaign  against  Spanish  ports  of  the 
South  Seas,  he  wound  up  an  inspiriting  address  with 
the  rousing  assurance  that  after  this  voyage,  "the 
worst  boy  aboard  would  never  nede  to  goe  agayne  to  sea, 
but  be  able  to  lyve  in  England  like  a  right  good  gentle- 
man." Fletcher,  the  chaplain,  who  secretly  advocated 
the  dead  man's  cause,  was  tied  to  a  mast  pole  in  bilboes, 
with  the  inscription  hung  to  his  neck  —  "Falsest  knave 
that  liveth." 

On  August  17  they  departed   from  "the  port    ac- 

1  The  Hakluyt  Society  Proceedings,  1854,  give  all  details  of  this  terrible  crime. 
Fletcher,  the  chaplain,  thought  Doughty  innocent ;  but  Drake  considered  the  chaplain 
"  the  falsest  knave  that  liveth." 


150         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

cursed,"  for  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  that  were  to  lead 
to  Spanish  wealth  on  the  Pacific.1 

The  superstitious  crews'  fears  of  disaster  for  the 
death  of  Doughty  seemed  to  become  very  real  in  the 
terrific  tempests  that  assailed  the  three  ships  as  they 
entered  the  straits.  Gales  lashed  the  cross  tides  to  a 
height  of  thirty  feet,  threatening  to  swamp  the  little 
craft.  Mountains  emerged  shadowy  through  the  mists 
on  the  south.  Roiling  waters  met  the  prows  from  end 
to  end  of  the  straits.  Topsails  were  dipped,  psalms 
of  thanks  chanted,  and  prayers  held  as  the  ships  came 
out  on  the  west  side  into  the  Pacific  on  the  6th  of  Sep- 
tember. In  honor  of  the  first  English  vessel  to  enter 
this  ocean,  Drake  renamed  his  ship  "Golden  Hind." 

1  Don  Francisco  de  Zarate,  commander  of  a  Spanish  ship  scuttled  by  Drake  off 
Guatalco,  gives  this  description  to  the  Spanish  government  of  the  Englishman's  equi- 
page :  "The  general  of  the  Englishmen  is  the  same  who  five  years  ago  took  Nombre 
de  Dios,  about  thirty-five  years  old,  short,  with  a  ruddy  beard,  one  of  the  greatest  mari- 
ners there  are  on  the  sea,  alike  for  his  skill  and  power  of  command.  His  ship  is  a 
galleon  of  four  hundred  tons,  a  very  fast  sailer,  and  there  are  aboard  her,  one  hundred 
men,  all  skilled  hands  and  of  warlike  age,  and  all  so  well  trained  that  they  might  be  old 
soldiers  — they  keep  their  harquebusses  clean.  He  treats  them  with  affection,  they  him 
with  respect.  He  carries  with  him  nine  or  ten  gentlemen  cadets  of  high  families  in 
England.  These  arc  his  council.  He  calls  them  together,  tho'  he  takes  counsel  of  no 
one.  He  has  no  favorite.  These  are  admitted  to  his  table,  as  well  as  a  Portuguese 
pilot  whom  he  brought  from  England.  (?)  He  is  served  with  much  plate  with  gilt 
borders  engraved  with  his  arms  and  has  all  possible  kinds  of  delicacies  and  scents,  which 
.  .  .  the  Queen  gave  him.  (?)  None  of  the  gentlemen  sit  or  cover  in  his  presence 
without  first  being  ordered  once  or  even  several  times.  The  galleon  carries  thirty  pieces 
of  heavy  ordnance,  fireworks  and  ammunition.  They  dine  and  sup  to  the  music  of 
violins.  He  carries  carpenters,  caulkers,  careeners.  The  ship  is  sheathed.  The  mm 
are  paid  and  not  regular  pirates.  No  one  takes  plunder  and  the  slightest  fault  is  pun- 
ished. ' '  The  don  goes  on  to  say  that  what  troubled  him  most  was  that  Drake  captured 
Spanish  charts  of  the  Pacific,  which  would  guide  other  intruders  on  the  Pacific. 


FRANCIS   DRAKE   IN   CALIFORNIA     151 

The  gales  continued  so  furiously,  Drake  jocosely 
called  the  sea,  Mare  Furiosum,  instead  of  Pacific.  The 
first  week  of  October  storms  compelled  the  vessels  to 
anchor.  In  the  raging  darkness  that  night,  the  ex- 
plosive rip  of  a  snapping  hawser  was  heard  behind  the 


The  Golden  Hind. 

stern  of  the  Golden  Hind.  Fearful  cries  rose  from  the 
waves  for  help.  The  dark  form  of  a  phantom  ship 
lurched  past  in  the  running  seas  —  the  Marygold 
adrift,  loose  from  her  anchor,  driving  to  the  open  storm ; 
fearful  judgment  —  as  the  listeners  thought  —  for  the 
crew's  false  testimony  against  Doughty;  for,  as  one 
old  record  states,  "they  could  by  no  means  help  spoom- 


152         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

ing  along  before  the  sea;"  and  the  Marygoldwas  never 
more  seen. 

Meanwhile  like  disaster  had  befallen  the  Golden 
Hind,  the  cable  snapping  weak  as  thread  against  the 
drive  of  tide  and  wind.  Only  the  Elizabeth  kept  her 
anchor  grip,  and  her  crew  became  so  panic-stricken, 
they  only  waited  till  the  storm  abated,  then  turned 
back  through  the  straits,  swift  heels  to  the  stormy,  ill- 
fated  sea,  and  steered  straight  for  England,  where  they 
moored  in  June.  Towed  by  the  Golden  Hind,  now 
driving  southward  before  the  tempest,  was  a  jolly-boat 
with  eight  men.  The  mountain  seas  finally  wrenched 
the  tow-rope  from  the  big  ship,  and  the  men  were  adrift 
in  the  open  boat.  Their  fortunes  are  a  story  in  itself. 
Only  one  of  the  eight  survived  to  reach  England  after 
nine  years'  wandering  in  Brazil.1 

Onward,  sails  furled,  bare  poles  straining  to  the 
storm,  drifted  Drake  in  the  Golden  Hind.  Luck, 
that  so  often  favors  daring,  or  the  courage,  that  is  its 
own  talisman,  kept  him  from  the  rocks.  With 
battened  hatches  he  drove  before  what  he  could  not 

1  The  eight  castaways  in  the  shallop  succeeded  in  passing  back  through  the  straits. 
At  Plata  they  were  attacked  by  the  Indians  ;  four,  wounded,  succeeded  in  escaping. 
The  others  were  captured.  Reaching  islands  off  the  coast  of"  Patagonia,  two  of  the 
wounded  died.  The  remaining  two  suffered  shipwreck  on  a  barren  island,  where  the 
only  food  was  fruit  ;  the  only  drink,  the  juice  of  the  fruits.  Making  a  raft  of  floating 
planks  ten  feet  long,  the  two  committed  themselves  to  God  and  steered  for  the  main- 
land. Here  Pilcher  died  two  hours  after  they  had  landed  from  drinking  too  much 
water.  The  survivor,  Peter  Carder,  lived  among  the  savages  of  Brazil  for  eight  years 
before  he  escaped  and  got  passage  to  England,  where  he  related  his  adventures  to  Queen 
Elizabeth.  The  Queen  gave  him  twenty-two  angels  and  sent  him  to  Admiral  Howard 
for  employment.  Purcbat'  Pilgrims,  Vol.  IV, 


FRANCIS   DRAKE   IN  CALIFORNIA     153 

stem,  southward  and  south,  clear  down  where  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  met  at  Cape  Horn,  now  for  the  first  time 
seen  by  navigator.  Here  at  last,  on  October  30,  came 
a  lull.  Drake  landed,  and  took  possession  of  this 
earth's  end  for  the  Queen.  Then  he  headed  his  prow 
northward  for  the  forbidden  waters  of  the  Pacific 
bordering  New  Spain.  Not  a  Spaniard  was  seen  up  to 
the  Bay  of  San  Filipe  off  Chile,  where  by  the  end  of 
November  Drake  came  on  an  Indian  fisherman. 
Thinking  the  ship  Spanish,  the  fellow  offered  to  pilot 
her  back  eighteen  miles  to  the  harbor  of  Valparaiso. 

Spanish  vessels  lay  rocking  to  the  tide  as  Drake 
glided  into  the  port.  So  utterly  impossible  was  it 
deemed  for  any  foreign  ship  to  enter  the  Pacific,  that 
the  Spanish  commander  of  the  fleet  at  anchor  dipped 
colors  in  salute  to  the  pirate  heretic,  thinking  him  a 
messenger  from  Spain,  and  beat  him  a  rattling  welcome 
on  the  drum  as  the  Golden  Hind  knocked  keels  with  the 
Spanish  bark.  Drake,  doubtless,  smiled  as  he  returned 
the  salute  by  a  wave  of  his  plumed  hat.  The  Spaniards 
actually  had  wine  jars  out  to  drown  the  newcomers 
ashore,  when  a  quick  clamping  of  iron  hooks  locked 
the  Spanish  vessel  in  death  grapple  to  the  Golden  Hind. 
An  English  sailor  leaped  over  decks  to  the  Spanish 
galleon  with  a  yell  of  " Downe,  Spanish  doggesl"  The 
crew  of  sixty  English  pirates  had  swarmed  across  the 
vessel  like  hornets  before  the  poor  hidalgo  knew  what 
had  happened.  Head  over  heels,  down  the  hatchway, 
reeled  the  astonished  dons,  Drake  clapped  down 


i54         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

hatches,  and  had  the  Spaniards  trapped  while  his  men 
went  ashore  to  sack  the  town.  One  Spaniard  had  suc- 
ceeded in  swimming  across  to  warn  the  port.1  When 
Drake  landed,  the  entire  population"  had  fled  to  the 
hills.  Rich  plunder  in  wedges  of  pure  gold,  and  gems, 
was  carried  off  from  the  fort.  Not  a  drop  of  blood  was 
shed.  Crews  of  the  scuttled  vessels  were  set  ashore, 
the  dismantled  ships  sent  drifting  to  open  sea.  The 
whole  fiasco  was  conducted  as  harmlessly  as  a  melo- 
drama, with  a  moral  thrown  in;  for  were  not  these 
zealous  Protestants  despoiling  these  zealous  Catholics, 
whose  zeal,  in  turn,  had  led  them  to  despoil  the  Indian  ? 
There  was  a  moral ;  but  it  wore  a  coat  of  many  colors. 
The  Indian  was  rewarded,  and  a  Greek  pilot  forced 
on  board  to  steer  to  Lima,  the  great  treasury  of  Peru- 
vian gold.  Giving  up  all  hope  of  the  other  English 
vessels  joining  him,  Drake  had  paused  at  Coquimbo  to 
put  together  a  small  sloop,  when  down  swooped  five 
hundred  Spanish  soldiers.  In  the  wild  scramble  for 
the  Golden  Hind,  one  sailor  was  left  behind.  He  was 
torn  to  pieces  by  the  Spaniards  before  the  eyes  of 
Drake's  crew.  Northling  again  sailed  Drake,  piloted 
inshore  by  the  Greek  to  Tarapaca,  where  Spanish 
treasure  was  sent  out  over  the  hills  to  await  the  call 
of  ship;  and  sure  enough,  sound  asleep  in  the  sun- 
light, fatigued  from  his  trip  lay  a  Spanish  carrier, 

1  The  plunder  of  this  port  was  60,000  pesos  of  gold,  jewels,  and  goods  ( pesos  about 
8  shillings,  $2)  ;  1770  jars  of  wine,  together  with  the  silver  of  the  chapel  altar,  which 
was  given  to  Fletcher. 


Francis  Drake. 


FRANCIS   DRAKE   IN  CALIFORNIA     155 

-+ 
thirteen  bars  of  silver  piled  beside  him  on  the  sand. 

When  that  carrier  wakened,  the  ship  had  called  !  Far- 
ther on  the  English  moored  and  went  inland  to  see  if 

O 

more  treasure  might  be  coming  over  the  hills.  Along 
the  sheep  trails  came  a  lad  whistling  as  he  drove  eight 
Peruvian  sheep  laden  with  black  leather  sacks  full 
of  gold. 

Drake's  men  were  intoxicated  with  their  success. 
It  was  impossible  to  attack  Panama  with  only  the 
Golden  Hind;  but  what  if  the  Golden  Hind  could  catch 
the  Glory  of  the  South  Seas  —  the  splendid  Spanish 
galleon  that  yearly  carried  Peruvian  gold  up  to  Panama  ? 
Drake  gained  first  news  of  the  treasure  ship  being 
afloat  while  he  was  rifling  three  barks  at  Aricara  below 
Lima;  but  he  knew  coureurs  were  already  speeding 
overland  to  warn  the  capital  against  the  Golden  Hind. 
Drake  pressed  sail  to  outstrip  the  land  messenger,  and 
glided  into  Callao,  the  port  of  Lima,  before  the 
thirty  ships  lying  dismantled  had  the  slightest  inkling 
of  his  presence. 

Viceroy  Don  Francisco  de  Toledo  of  Lima  thought 
the  overland  coureur  mad.  A  pirate  heretic  in  the 
South  Seas !  Preposterous !  Some  Spanish  rascal 
had  turned  pirate;  so  the  governor  gathered  up  two 
thousand  soldiers  to  march  with  all  speed  for  Callao, 
with  hot  wrath  and  swift  punishment  for  the  culprit. 
Drake  had  already  sacked  Callao,  but  he  had  missed 
the  treasure  ship.  She  had  just  left  for  Panama. 
The  Golden  Hind  was  lying  outside  the  port  becalmed 


156         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

when  Don  Toledo  came  pouring  his  two  thousand 
soldiers  down  to  the  wharves.  The  Spaniards  dashed 
to  embark  on  the  rifled  ships  with  a  wild  halloo !  He 
was  becalmed,  the  blackguard  pirate,  —  whoever  he 
was,  —  they  would  tow  out !  Divine  Providence  had 
surely  given  him  into  their  hands;  but  just  as  they 
began  rowing  might  and  main,  a  fresh  wind  ruffled 
the  water.  The  Golden  Hind  spread  her  wings  to  the 
wind  and  was  off  like  a  bird  !  Drake  knew  no  ship 
afloat  could  outsail  his  swift  little  craft;  and  the  Span- 
iards had  embarked  in  such  haste,  they  had  come 
without  provisions.  Famine  turned  the  pursuers  back 
near  the  equator,  the  disgusted  viceroy  hastening  to 
equip  frigates  that  would  catch  the  English  pirate 
when  famine  must  compel  him  to  head  southward. 

Drake  slackened  sail  to  capture  another  gold  cargo. 
The  crew  of  this  caravel  were  so  grateful  to  be  put 
ashore  instead  of  having  their  throats  cut,  that  they 
revealed  to  Drake  the  stimulating  fact  that  the  Glory 
of  the  South  Seas,  the  treasure  ship,  was  only  two  days 
ahead  laden  with  golden  wealth  untold. 

It  was  now  a  wild  race  for  gold  —  for  gold  enough 
to  enrich  every  man  of  the  crew;  for  treasure  that 
might  buy  up  half  a  dozen  European  kingdoms  and 
leave  the  buyer  rich ;  for  gold  in  huge  slabs  the  shape 
of  the  legendary  wedges  long  ago  given  the  rulers  of 
the  Incas  by  the  descendants  of  the  gods;  gold  to  be 
had  for  the  taking  by  the  striking  of  one  sure  blow  at 
England's  enemy !  Drake  called  on  the  crew  to  acquit 


FRANCIS   DRAKE   IN   CALIFORNIA     157 

themselves  like  men.  The  sailors  answered  with  a 
shout.  Every  inch  of  sail  was  spread.  Old  muskets 
and  cutlasses  were  scoured  till  they  shone  like  the  sun. 
Men  scrambled  up  the  mast  poles  to  gaze  seaward  for 
sight  of  sail  to  the  fore.  Every  nerve  was  braced. 
They  were  now  across  the  equator.  A  few  hundred 
miles  more,  and  the  Glory  of  the  South  Seas  would  lie 
safe  inside  the  strong  harbor  of  Panama.  Drake  or- 
dered the  thirty  cannon  ready  for  action,  and  in  a  loud 
voice  offered  the  present  of  his  own  golden  chain  to 
the  man  who  should  first  descry  the  sails  of  the  Span- 
ish treasure.  For  once  his  luck  failed  him.  The  wind 
suddenly  fell.  Before  Drake  needed  to  issue  the  order, 
his  "brave  boys"  were  over  decks  and  out  in  the  small 
boats  rowing  for  dear  life,  towing  the  Golden  Hind, 
Day  or  night  from  February  twenty-fourth,  they  did 
not  slack,  scarcely  pausing  to  eat  or  sleep.  Not  to 
lose  the  tremendous  prize  by  seeing  the  Glory  of  the 
South  Seas  sail  into  Panama  Bay  at  the  last  lap  of  the 
desperate  race,  had  these  bold  pirates  ploughed  a 
furrow  round  the  world,  daring  death  or  devil ! 

At  three  in  the  afternoon  of  March  the  ist,  John 
Drake,  the  commander's  brother,  shouted  out  from 
the  mast  top  where  he  clung,  "Sail  ho!"  and  the 
blood  of  every  Englishman  aboard  jumped  to  the 
words  !  At  six  in  the  evening,  just  off  Cape  Francisco, 
they  were  so  close  to  the  Glory  of  the  South  Seas,  they 
could  see  that  she  was  compelled  to  sail  slowly,  owing 
to  the  weight  of  her  cargo.  So  unaware  of  danger  was 


158          VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

the  captain  that  he  thought  Drake  some  messenger 
sent  by  the  viceroy,  and  instead  of  getting  arms  in 
readiness  and  pressing  sail,  he  lowered  canvas,  came 
to  anchor,  and  waited  ! l  Drake's  announcement  was 
a  roaring  cannonade  that  blew  the  mast  poles  off  the 
Spanish  ship,  crippling  her  like  a  bird  with  wings 
broken.  For  the  rest,  the  scene  was  what  has  been 
enacted  wherever  pirates  have  played  their  game  - 
a  furious  fusillade  from  the  cannon  mouths  belching 
from  decks  and  port-holes,  the  unscathed  ship  riding 
down  on  the  staggering  victim  like  a  beast  on  its  prey, 
the  clapping  of  the  grappling  hooks  that  bound  the 
captive  to  the  sides  of  her  victor,  the  rush  over  decks, 
the  flash  of  naked  sword,  the  decks  swimming  in  blood, 
and  the  quick  surrender.  The  booty  from  this  treas- 
ure ship  was  roughly  estimated  at  twenty-six  tons  of 
pure  silver,  thirteen  chests  of  gold  plate,  eighty  pounds 
of  pure  gold,  and  precious  jewels  —  emeralds  and 
pearls  —  to  the  value  in  modern  money  of  seven  hun- 
dred and  twenty  thousand  dollars. 

Drake  realized  now  that  he  dared  not  return  to 
England  by  the  Straits  of  Magellan.  All  the  Spanish 
frigates  of  the  Pacific  were  on  the  watch.  The  Golden 
Hind  was  so  heavily  freighted  with  treasure,  it  was 
actually  necessary  to  lighten  ballast  by  throwing  spices 
and  silks  overboard.  One  can  guess  that  the  orchestra 
played  a  stirring  refrain  off  Cape  Francisco  that  night. 

The  Northeast   Passage   from  Asia  to   Europe  was 

1  The  captain  was  a  Biscayan,  one  Juan  de  Anton. 


FRANCIS   DRAKE   IN   CALIFORNIA     159 

still  a  myth  of  the  geographers.  Drake's  friend,  Fro- 
bisher,  had  thought  he  found  it  on  the  Atlantic  side. 
After  taking  counsel  with  his  ten  chosen  advisers, 
Drake  decided  to  give  the  Spanish  frigates  the  slip  by 
returning  through  the  mythical  Northeast  Passage. 
Stop  was  made  at  Guatalco,  off  the  west  coast  of 
New  Spain,  for  repairs.  Here,  the  poor  Portuguese 
pilot  brought  all  the  way  from  the  islands  off  the 
west  coast  of  Africa,  was  put  ashore.1  He  was 
tortured  by  the  Spaniards  for  piloting  Drake  to  the 
South  Seas.  In  the  course  of  rifling  port  and  ship 
at  Guatalco,  charts  to  the  Philippines  and  Indian 
Ocean  were  found ;  so  that  even  if  the  voyage  to  Eng- 
land by  the  Northeast  Passage  proved  impossible, 
the  Golden  Hind  could  follow  these  charts  home 
round  the  world  by  the  Indian  Ocean  and  Good  Hope 
up  Africa. 

It  was  needless  for  Drake  to  sack  more  Spanish 
floats.  He  had  all  the  plunder  he  could  carry.  From 
the  charts  he  learned  that  the  Spaniards  always  struck 
north  for  favorable  winds.  Heading  north,  month 
after  month,  the  Golden  Hind  sailed  for  the  shore  that 
should  have  led  northeast,  and  that  puzzled  the  mari- 
ners by  sheering  west  and  yet  west;  fourteen  hundred 
leagues  she  sailed  along  a  leafy  wilderness  of  tangled 
trees  and  ropy  mosses,  beauty  and  decay,  the  froth 
of  the  beach  combers  aripple  on  the  very  roots  of  the 

1  Nuno  Silva  is  the  name  of  this  pilot.  It  is  from  his  story  that  many  of  the 
details  of  this  part  of  the  voyage  are  obtained. 


160         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

trees;  dolphins  coursing  round  the  hull  like  grey- 
hounds; flying  fish  with  mica  for  wings  flitting  over 
the  decks;  forests  of  seaweed  warning  out  to  deeper 
water.  Then,  a  sudden  cold  fell,  cold  and  fogs  that 
chilled  the  mariners  of  tropic  seas  to  the  bone.  The 
veering  coast  pushed  them  out  farther  westward,  far 
north  of  what  the  Spanish  charts  showed.  Instead 
of  flying  fish  now,  were  whales,  whales  in  schools  of 
thousands  that  gambolled  round  the  Golden  Hind. 
As  the  north  winds-  "frozen  nimphes,"  the  record 
calls  them  —  blew  down  the  cold  Arctic  fogs,  Drake's 
men  thought  they  were  certainly  nearing  the  Arctic 
regions.  Where  were  they  ?  Plainly  lost,  lost  some- 
where along  what  are  now  known  as  Mendocino,  and 
Blanco,  and  Flattery.  In  a  word,  perhaps  up  as  far 
as  Oregon,  and  Washington.  One  record  says  they 
went  to  latitude  43.  Another  record,  purporting  to 
be  more  correct,  says  48.  The  Spaniards  had  been 
north  as  far  as  California,  but  beyond  this,  however 
far  he  may  have  gone,  Drake  was  a  discoverer  in  the 
true  sense  of  the  word.  Mountains  covered  with  snow 
they  saw,  and  white  cliffs,  and  low  shelving  shores, 
which  is  more  descriptive  of  Oregon  and  Washington 
than  California ;  but  only  the  sudden  transition  from 
tropic  heat  to  chilling  northern  fogs  can  explain  the 
crew's  exaggerated  idea  of  cold  along  the  Pacific  coast. 
Land  was  sighted  at  42,  north  of  Mendocino,  and  an 
effort  made  to  anchor  farther  north;  but  contrary 
winds  and  a  rock  bottom  gave  insecure  mooring. 


FRANCIS   DRAKE   IN   CALIFORNIA     161 

This  was  not  surprising,  as  it  was  on  this  coast  that 
Cook  and  Vancouver  failed  to  find  good  harborage. 
The  coast  still  seemed  to  trend  westward,  dispelling 
hopes  of  a  Northeast  Passage ;  and  if  the  world  could 
have  accepted  Drake's  conclusions  on  the  matter,  a 
deal  of  expenditure  in  human  life  and  effort  might 
have  been  saved. 

Two  centuries  before  the  deaths  of  Bering  and  Cook, 
trying  to  find  that  Passage,  Drake's  chronicler  wrote : 
"  The  cause  of  this  extreme  cold  we  conceive  to  be  the 
large  spreading  of  the  Asian  and  American  continent, 
if  they  be  not  fully  joined,  yet  seem  they  to  come  very 
neere,  from  whose  high  and  snow-covered  mountains, 
the  north  and  north-west  winds  send  abroad  their  frozen 
nimphes  to  the  infecting  of  the  whole  air  —  hence  comes 
it  that  in  the  middest  of  their  summer^  the  snow  hardly 
departeth  from  these  hills  at  all;  hence  come  those  thicke 
mists  and  most  stinking  fogges,  .  .  .  for  these  reasons 
we  comecture  that  either  there  is  no  passage  at  all 
through  these  Northerne  coasts,  which  is  most  likely, 
or  if  there  be,  that  it  is  unnavigable.  .  .  .  Adde  there 
unto,  that  though  we  searched  the  coast  diligently  even 
unto  the  48  degree,  yet  found  we  not  the  land  to  trend  in 
any  place  towards  the  East,  but  rather  running  continu- 
ally North-west,  as  if  it  went  directly  to  meet  with  Asia. 
.  .  .  of  which  we  infallibly  concluded  rather  than  con- 
iectured,  that  there  was  none'' 

Giving  up  all  idea  of  a  Northeast  Passage,  Drake 
turned  south,  and  on  June  17  anchored  in  a  bay  now 


i62          VIKINGS    OF   THE    PACIFIC 

thoroughly  identified  as  Drake's  Bay,  north  of  San 
Francisco. 

The  next  morning,  while  the  English  were  yet  on 
the  Golden  Hind,  came  an  Indian  in  a  canoe,  shouting 
out  oration  of  welcome,  blowing  feather  down  on  the 
air  as  a  sign  of  dovelike  peace,  and  finally  after  three 
times  essaying  courage,  coming  near  enough  the  Eng- 
lish to  toss  a  rush  basket  full  of  tobacco  into  the  ship. 
In  vain  Drake  threw  out  presents  to  allure  the  Indian 
on  board.  The  terrified  fellow  scampered  ashore, 
refusing  everything  but  a  gorgeous  hat,  that  floated 
out  on  the  water.  For  years  the  legend  of  Drake's 
ship  was  handed  down  as  a  tradition  among  the  Ind- 
ians of  this  bay.1 

By  the  2  ist  tents  were  erected,  and  a  rude  fortifica- 
tion of  stone  thrown  round  in  protection  where  the 
precious  cargo  of  gold  could  be  stored  while  the  ship 
was  to  be  careened  and  scraped.  At  the  foot  of  the 
hill,  the  poor  Indians  gathered  and  gazed  spellbound 
at  the  sight  of  this  great  winged  bird  of  the  ocean, 
sending  thirty  cannon  trundling  ashore,  and  herself 
beginning  to  rise  up  from  the  tide  on  piles  and  scaf- 
folding. As  Drake  sent  the  assembled  tribe  presents, 
the  Indians  laid  down  their  bows  and  spears.  So 
marvellously  did  the  wonders  of  the  white  men  grow 
—  sticks  that  emitted  puffs  of  fire  (muskets),  a  ship 
so  large  it  could  have  carried  their  tribe,  clothing  in 
velvet  and  gold  braid  gorgeous  as  the  plumage  of  a 

1  See  Professor  George  Davidson's  pamphlet  on  Drake. 


FRANCIS   DRAKE   IN   CALIFORNIA     163 

bird,  cutlasses  of  steel  —  that  by  the  23d  great  as- 
semblages of  Indians  were  on  their  knees  at  the  foot 
of  the  hill,  offering  sacrifices  to  the  wonderful  beings 
in  the  fort.  Whatever  the  English  pirate's  faults,  he 
deserves  credit  for  treating  the  Indians  with  an  honor 
that  puts  later  navigators  to  shame.  When  he  saw 
them  gashing  bodies  in  sacrifice,  his  superstition  took 
fire  with  fear  of  Divine  displeasure  for  the  sacrilege; 
and  the  man  who  did  not  scruple  to  treat  black  slaves 
picked  up  among  the  Spaniards  baser  than  he  would 
have  treated  dogs,  now  fell  "to  prayers,"  as  the  old 
chronicle  says,  reading  the  Bible  aloud,  and  setting 
his  crew  to  singing  psalms,  and  pointing  to  the  sky, 
at  which  the  Indians  grunted  approvals  of  "ho — ho!" 

Three  days  later  came  coureurs  from  the  "  King  of 
the  Indians"  -the  chief — bidding  the  strangers 
prepare  for  the  great  sachem's  visit.  The  coureurs 
advanced  gyrating  and  singing;  so  that  the  English 
saw  in  this  strange  people  nomads  like  the  races  of 
Scripture,  whose  ceremony  was  one  of  song  and  dance. 
The  warriors  preceding  the  chief  carried  what  the 
English  thought  "a  sceptre,"  but  what  we  moderns 
would  call  a  peace-pipe.  The  chains  in  their  hands 
were  probably  strings  of  bears'  claws,  or  something 
like  wampum;  the  "crowns  of  feathers,"  plumed 
head-dresses;  the  gifts  in  the  rush  baskets  borne  by 
the  women  to  the  rear,  maize  and  tobacco. 

Drake  drew  his  soldiers  up  in  line,  and  with  trum- 
pets sounding  and  armor  at  gleam  marched  out  to  wel- 


164         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

come  the  Indian  chief.  Then  the  whole  company  of 
savages  broke  out  in  singing  and  dancing.  Drake 
was  signalled  to  sit  down  in  the  centre.  Barely  had 
he  obeyed  when  to  the  shouting  and  dancing  of  the 
multitude,  "a  chain"  was  thrown  over  his  neck,  "a 
crown"  placed  on  his  head,  and  "the  sceptre"  put  in 
his  hand.  According  to  Indian  custom,  Drake  was 
welcomed  by  the  ceremony  of  adoption  in  the  tribe, 
"the  sceptre"  being  a  peace-pipe;  "the  crown,"  an 
Indian  warrior's  head-dress.  Far  otherwise  the  cere- 
mony appeared  to  the  romantic  treasure  hunters. 
"In  the  name  and  to  the  use  of  Her  Most  Excellent 
Majesty"  records  the  chaplain,  "he  (Drake}  tooke  the 
sceptre,  crowne,  and  dignity  of  the  sayd  countne  into 
his  hand ;  "  though,  added  the  pious  chaplain  of  pirates, 
when  he  witnessed  the  Indians  bringing  the  sick  to  be 
healed  by  the  master  pirate's  touch,  -  "we  groane  in 
spirit  to  see  the  power  of  Sathan  so  farre  prevails  " 

To  avert  disaster  for  the  sacrilege  of  the  sacred 
touch  of  healing,  Drake  added  to  his  prayers  strong 
lotions  and  good  ginger  plasters.  Sometime  in  the 
next  five  weeks,  Drake  travelled  inland  with  the  Ind- 
ians, and  because  of  patriotism  to  his  native  land 
and  the  resemblance  of  the  white  sand  cliffs  to 
that  land,  called  the  region  "New  Albion."  "New 
Albion"  would  be  an  offset  to  "New  Spain."  Drake 
saw  himself  a  second  Cortes,  and  nailed  to  a  tree  a 
brass  plate  on  which  was  graven  the  Queen's  name, 
the  year,  the  free  surrender  of  the  country  to  the 


o 


o 


H 


FRANCIS  DRAKE  IN   CALIFORNIA     165 

Queen,  and  Drake's  own  name;  for,  says  the  chaplain, 
quite  ignorant  of  Spanish  voyages,  "the  Spaniards 
never  had  any  dealing,  or  so  much  as  set  a  foot  in  this 
country,  the  utmost  of  their  discoveries  reaching  only 
many  degrees  Southward  of  this  place." 

Drake's  misunderstanding  of  the  Indian  ceremony 
would  be  comical  if  it  were  not  that  later  historians 
have  solemnly  argued  whether  an  act  of  possession  by 
a  pirate  should  hold  good  in  international  law. 

On  the  23d  of  July  the  English  pirate  bade  fare- 
well to  the  Indians.  As  he  looked  back  from  the  sea, 
they  were  running  along  the  hilltops  burning  more  of 
the  fires  which  he  thought  were  sacrifices. 

Following  the  chart  taken  from  the  Spanish  ship, 
Drake  steered  for  the  Philippines,  thence  southward 
through  the  East  Indies  to  the  Indian  Ocean,  and 
past  Good  Hope,  back  to  Plymouth,  where  he  came 
to  anchor  on  September  26,  1580.  Bells  were  set 
ringing.  Post  went  spurring  to  London  with  word 
that  Drake,  the  corsair,  who  had  turned  the  Spanish 
world  upside  down,  had  come  home.  For  a  week 
the  little  world  of  England  gave  itself  up  to  feasting. 
Ballads  rang  with  the  fame  of  Drake.  His  name  was 
on  every  tongue.  One  of  his  first  acts  was  to  visit  his 
old  parents.  Then  he  took  the  Golden  Hind  round 
the  Channel  to  be  dry-docked  in  Deptford. 

For  the  once,  the  tactful  Queen  was  in  a  quandary. 
Complaints  were  pouring  in  from  Spain.  The  Span- 


166          VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

ish  ambassador  was  furious,  and  presented  bills  of 
sequestration  against  Drake,  but  as  the  amount 
sequestered,  pending  investigation,  was  only  fifty-six 
thousand  pounds,  one  may  suspect  that  Elizabeth  let 
Drake  protect  in  his  own  way  what  he  had  taken  in 
his  own  way.  For  six  months,  while  the  world  re- 
sounded with  his  fame,  the  court  withheld  approval. 
Jealous  courtiers  "deemed  Drake  the  master  thief 
of  the  unknown  world,"  till  Elizabeth  cut  the  Gor- 
dian  knot  by  one  of  her  defiant  strokes.  On  April  4 
she  went  in  state  to  dine  on  the  Golden  Hind,  to  the 
music  of  those  stringed  instruments  that  had  harped 
away  Drake's  fear  of  death  or  devil  as  he  ploughed 
an  English  keel  round  the  world.  After  the  dinner, 
she  bade  him  fall  to  his  knees  and  with  a  light  touch 
of  the  sword  gave  him  the  title  that  was  seal  of  the 
court's  approval.  The  Golden  Hind  was  kept  as 
a  public  relic  till  it  fell  to  pieces  on  the  Thames, 
and  the  wood  was  made  into  a  memorial  chair  for 
Oxford. 

After  all  the  perils  Drake  saw  in  the  subsequent 
war  —  Cadiz  and  the  Armada  —  it  seems  strange  that 
he  should  return  to  the  scene  of  his  past  exploits  to  die. 
He  was  with  Hawkins  in  the  campaign  of  1595  against 
Spain  in  the  New  World.  Things  had  not  gone  well. 
He  had  not  approved  of  Hawkins's  plans  of  attack, 
and  the  venture  was  being  bungled.  Sick  of  the  equa- 
torial fever,  or  of  chagrin  from  failure,  Drake  died  off 
Porto  Bello  in  the  fifty-first  year  of  his  age.  His  body 


FRANCIS   DRAKE   IN   CALIFORNIA     167 

was  placed  in  a  leaden  coffin,  and  solemnly  committed 
to  that  sea  where  he  had  won  his  first  glory.1 

1  To  give  even  a  brief  account  of  Drake's  life  would  fill  a  small  encyclopaedia.  The 
story  of  his  first  ruin  off  Vera  Cruz,  of  his  campaign  of  vengeance,  of  his  piratical  voy- 
age to  the  Pacific,  of  his  doings  with  the  California  Indians,  of  his  fight  in  the  Armada 
—  any  one  of  these  would  fill  an  ordinary  volume.  Only  that  part  of  his  life  bearing  on 
American  exploration  has  been  given  here,  and  that  sacrificed  in  detail  to  keep  from 
cumbering  the  sweep  of  his  adventure.  No  attempt  has  been  made  to  pass  judgment  on 
Drake's  character.  Like  Baranof  of  a  later  day,  he  was  a  curious  mixture  of  the 
supremely  selfish  egoist,  and  of  the  religious  enthusiast,  alternately  using  his  egoism  as 
a  support  for  his  religion,  and  his  religion  as  a  support  for  his  egoism ;  and  each  reader 
will  probably  pass  judgment  on  Drake  according  as  the  reader's  ideal  of  manhood  is  the 
altruist  or  the  egoist,  the  Christ -type  or  ' '  the  great  blond  beast ' '  of  modern  philo- 
sophic thought,  the  man  supremely  indifferent  to  all  but  self,  glorying  in  triumph  though 
it  be  knee-deep  in  blood.  Nor  must  we  moderns  pass  too  hypocritical  judgment  on  the 
hero  of  the  Drake  type.  Drake  had  invested  capital  in  his  venture.  He  had  the  bless- 
ing of  Church  and  State  on  what  he  was  about  to  do  ;  and  what  he  did  was  to  take  what 
he  had  strength  and  dexterity  to  take  independent  of  the  Ten  Commandments,  which  is 
not  so  far  different  from  many  commercial  methods  of  to-day.  We  may  appear  as 
unmoral  in  our  methods  to  future  judges  as  Drake  appears  to  us.  Just  as  no  attempt 
has  been  made  to  analyze  Drake's  character  —  to  balance  his  lack  of  morals  with  his 
courage  —  so  minor  details,  that  would  have  led  off  from  the  main  current  of  events, 
have  been  omitted.  For  instance,  Drake  spilled  very  little  Spanish  blood  and  was  Chris- 
tian in  his  treatment  of  the  Indians  ;  but  are  these  credit  marks  offset  by  his  brutality 
toward  the  black  servants  whom  the  pirates  picked  up  among  the  Spaniards,  of  whom 
one  poor  colored  girl  was  marooned  on  a  Pacific  island  to  live  or  die  or  rot  ?  To  be 
sure,  the  Portuguese  pilot  taken  from  a  scuttled  caravel  off  the  west  coast  of  Africa  on 
the  way  out,  and  forced  to  pilot  Drake  to  the  Pacific,  was  well  treated  on  the  voyage. 
At  least,  there  is  no  mention  to  the  contrary ;  but  when  Drake  had  finished  with  the 
fellow,  though  the  English  might  have  known  very  well  what  terrible  vengeance  Spain 
would  take,  the  pilot  was  dumped  off  on  the  coast  of  New  Spain,  where,  one  old  record 
states,  he  was  tortured,  almost  torn  to  pieces,  for  having  guided  Drake. 

The  great,  indeed,  primary  and  only  authorities  for  Drake's  adventures  are,  of  course, 
Hakluyt,  Vol.  Ill ;  for  the  fate  of  the  lost  crews,  Purcbas"  Pilgrims,  Vol.  Ill  and 
Vol.  I,  Book  II,  and  Vol.  IV;  and  the  Hakluyt  Society  Proceedings,  1854,  which  are 
really  a  reprint  of  The  World  Encompassed,  by  Francis  Fletcher,  the  chaplain,  in  16-^.8, 
with  the  addition  of  documents  contemporary  with  Fletcher's  by  unknown  writers.  The 
title-page  of  The  World  Encompassed  reads  almost  like  an  old  ballad  — '  '•for  the  stir- 
ring up  of  beroick  spirits  to  benefit  their  countries,  and  eternize  their  names  by  like 


i68          VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

attempts."  Kohl  and  Davidson's  Reports  of  the  Coast  and  Gtodetic  Survey,  1884 
and  1886,  are  also  invaluable  as  establishing  Drake's  land-fall  in  California.  Miller 
Christy's  Silver  Map  of  the  World  gives  a  splendid  facsimile  of  the  medal  issued  to 
commemorate  Drake's  return,  of  which  the  original  is  in  the  British  Museum.  Among 
biographers,  Corbett's  Drake,  and  Barrow's  Life  of  Sir  Francis  Drake,  give  full  detail* 
of  his  early  and  personal  life,  including,  of  course,  his  great  services  in  the  Armada. 

Furious  controversy  has  waged  over  Drake  on  two  points  :  Did  he  murder  Doughty  ? 
Did  he  go  as  far  north  on  the  west  coast  of  America  as  48°  ?  Hakluyt's  account  says 
43° ;  The  World  Encompassed,  by  Fletcher,  the  chaplain,  says  48° ;  though  all 
accounts  agree  it  was  at  38°  he  made  harbor.  I  have  not  dealt  with  either  dispute, 
stating  the  bare  facts,  leaving  each  reader  to  draw  his  own  conclusions,  though  it  seems 
to  me  a  little  foolish  to  contend  that  the  claim  of  the  48th  degree  was  an  afterthought 
interpolated  by  the  writer  to  stretch  British  possessions  over  a  broader  swath  ;  for  even 
two  hundred  years  after  the  issue  of  the  Silver  Map  of  the  World,  when  Cook  was  on 
this  coast,  so  little  was  known  of  the  west  shores  of  America  by  Englishmen  that  men 
were  still  looking  out  for  a  Gamaland,  or  imaginary  continent  in  the  middle  of  the 
Pacific. 

The  words  of  the  narrative  bearing  on  America  are  :  "  We  came  to  41  degree  of 
North  latitude,  where  on  the  night  following  (June  3)  we  found  such  alterations  of 
heat,  into  extreme  and  nipping  cold,  that  our  men  in  general  did  grievously  complain 
thereof,  some  of  them  feeling  their  health  much  impaired  thereby  ;  neither  was  it  that 
this  chanced  in  the  night  alone,  but  the  day  following  carried  with  it  not  only  the 
markes,  but  the  stings  and  force  of  the  night  .  .  .  ;  besides  that  the  pinching  and 
biting  air  was  nothing  altered,  the  very  ropes  of  our  ship  were  stiffc,  and  the  rain  which 
fell  was  an  unnatural  congealed  and  frozen  substance  so  that  we  seemed  to  be  rather  in  the 
frozen  Zone  than  any  where  so  neere  unto  the  sun  or  these  hotter  climates  ...  it 
came  to  that  extremity  in  sayling  but  two  degrees  farther  to  the  northward  in  our  course, 
that  though  seamen  lack  not  good  stomachs  ...  it  was  a  question  whether  hands 
should  feed  their  mouths,  or  rather  keepe  from  the  pinching  cold  that  did  benumme 
them  .  .  .  our  meate  as  soone  as  it  was  remooved  from  the  fire,  would  presently  in  a 
manner  be  frozen  up,  and  our  ropes  and  tackling  in  a  few  days  were  growne  to  that 
itifThesse  ...  yet  would  not  our  general  be  discouraged  but  as  well  by  comfortable 
speeches,  of  the  divine  providence,  and  of  God's  loving  care  over  his  children,  out  of  the 
Scriptures  .  .  .  the  land  in  that  part  of  America,  beares  farther  out  into  the  West  than 
we  before  imagined,  we  were  neerer  on  it  than  we  were  aware ;  yet  the  neerer  still  we 
came  unto  it,  the  more  extremity  of  cold  did  sease  upon  us.  The  fifth  day  of  June,  we 
wer.*  forced  by  contrary  winders  to  runnc  in  with  the  shoare,  which  we  then  first  descried, 
and  to  cast  anchor  in  a  bad  bay,  the  best  roade  we  could  for  the  present  meete  with, 
where  we  were  not  without  some  danger  by  reason  of  the  many  extreme  gusts  and  flawes 
that  beate  upon  us,  which  if  they  ceased,  and  were  still  at  any  time  .  .  .  there  fol- 
lowed most  vile,  thicke  and  stinking  fogges  against  which  the  sea  prevailed  nothing 


FRANCIS   DRAKE   IN   CALIFORNIA     169 

...  to  go  further  North,  the  extremity  of  the  cold  would  not  permit  us  and  the  winds 
directly  bent  against  us,  having  once  gotten  us  under  sayle  againe,  commanded  us  to  the 
Southward  whether  we  would  or  no. 

"  From  the  height  of  48  degrees  in  which  now  we  were  to  38,  we  found  the  land 
by  coasting  alongst  it,  to  be  but  low  and  plaine  —  every  hill  whereof  we  saw  many  but 
none  were  high,  though  it  were  in  June,  and  the  sunne  in  his  nearest  approach  .  .  . 
being  covered  with  snow.  ...  In  38  deg.  30  min.  we  fell  with  a  convenient  and  fit 
harborough  and  June  17  came  to  anchor  therein,  where  we  continued  till  the  23rd  day 
of  July  following  .  .  .  neither  could  we  at  any  time  in  whole  fourteen  days  together 
find  the  aire  so  cleare  as  to  be  able  to  take  the  height  of  sunne  or  starre  .  .  .  after  our 
departure  from  the  heate  we  always  found  our  bodies,  not  as  sponges,  but  strong  and 
hardened,  more  able  to  beare  out  cold,  though  we  came  out  of  the  excesse  of  heate,  then 
chamber  champions  could  hae  beene,  who  lye  in  their  feather  beds  till  they  go  to  sea. 

"...  Trees  without  leaves,  and  the  ground  without  greennes  in  these  months  of 
June  and  July  ...  as  for  the  cause  of  this  extremity,  they  seem  .  .  .  chiefest  we 
conceive  to  be  the  large  spreading  of  the  Asian  and  American  continent,  which  (some- 
what Northward  of  these  parts)  if  they  be  not  fully  joyned,  yet  seeme  they  to  come 
very  neere  one  to  the  other.  From  whose  high  and  snow-covered  mountains,  the 
North  and  Northwest  winds  (the  constant  visitants  of  those  coasts)  send  abroad  their 
frozen  nimphes,  to  the  infecting  of  the  whole  aire  with  this  insufferable  sharpnesse. 
.  .  .  Hence  comes  the  generall  squalidnesse  and  barrennesse  of  the  countrie ;  hence 
comes  it  that  in  the  midst  of  their  summer,  the  snow  hardly  departeth  .  .  .  from  their 
hils  at  all ;  hence  come  those  thicke  mists  and  most  stinking  fogges,  which  increase  so 
much  the  more,  by  how  much  higher  the  pole  is  raised  .  .  .  also  from  these  reasons 
we  coniecture  that  either  there  is  no  passage  at  all  through  these  Northern  coasts  which  is 
most  likely  or  if  there  be,  that  yet  it  is  unnavigable.  .  .  .  Add  here  unto,  that  though 
we  searched  the  coast  diligently,  even  unto  the  48°,  yet  found  we  not  the  land  to  trend 
so  much  as  one  point  in  any  place  towards  the  East,  but  rather  running  on  continually 
Northwest,  as  if  it  went  directly  to  meet  with  Asia  ;  and  even  in  that  height,  when  we 
had  a  franke  winde  to  have  carried  us  through,  had  there  been  a  passage,  yet  we  had  a 
smoothe  and  calme  sea,  with  ordinary  flowing  and  reflowing,  which  could  not  have  beene 
had  there  been  a  frete ;  of  which  we  rather  infallibly  concluded,  then  coniectured,  that 
there  was  none. 

"The  next  day,  after  coming  to  anchor  in  the  aforesaid  harbour,  the  people  of  the 
countrey  showed  themselves,  sending  off  a  man  with  great  expedition  to  us  in  a  canow, 
who  being  yet  but  a  little  from  the  shoare,  and  a  great  way  from  our  ship,  spake  to  us 
continually  as  he  came  rowing  in.  And  at  last  at  a  reasonable  distance,  staying  himself, 
he  began  more  solemnly  a  long  and  tedious  oration,  after  his  manner ;  using  in  the 
deliverie  thereof,  many  gestures  and  signes,  mouing  his  hands,  turning  his  head  and  body 
many  wayes ;  and  after  his  oration  ended,  with  great  show  and  reverence  and  submission 
returned  backe  to  shoare  again.  He  shortly  came  againe  the  second  time  in  like  manner, 


170         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

and  so  the  third  time,  when  he  brought  with  him  (as  a  present  from  the  rest)  a  bunch 
of  feathers,  much  like  the  feathers  of  a  blacke  crowe,  very  neatly  and  artificially  gathered 
upon  a  string,  and  drawne  together  into  a  round  bundle,  being  verie  cleane  and  finely  cut, 
and  bearing  in  length  an  equall  proportion  one  with  another  a  special  cognizance  (as  we 
afterwards  observed)  which  they  .  .  .  weare  on  their  heads.  With  this  also  he  brought 
a  little  basket  made  of  rushes,  and  filled  with  an  herbe  which  they  called  Tobah.  Both 
which  being  tyed  to  a  short  rodde,  he  cast  into  our  boate.  Our  general!  intended  to 
haue  recompenced  him  immediately  with  many  good  things  he  would  haue  bestowed  on 
him  ;  but  entering  into  the  boate  to  deliver  the  same,  he  could  not  be  drawne  to  receive 
them  by  any  meanes,  save  one  hat,  which  being  cast  into  the  water  out  of  the  ship,  he 
took  up  (refusing  utterly  to  meddle  with  any  other  thing)  though  it  were  upon  a  board 
put  off  unto  him,  and  so  presently  made  his  returne.  After  which  time  our  boate  could 
row  no  way,  but  wondering  at  us  as  at  gods,  they  would  follow  the  same  with  admira- 
tion. .  .  . 

"  The  third  day  following,  viz.,  the  2:,  our  ship  having  received  a  leake  at  sea,  was 
brought  to  anchor  neerer  the  shoare,  that  her  goods  being  landed  she  might  be  repaired  ; 
but  for  that  we  were  to  prevent  any  danger  that  might  chance  against  our  safety,  our 
Generall  first  of  all  landed  his  men,  with  all  necessary  provision,  to  build  tents  and  make 
a  fort  for  the  defence  of  ourselves  and  our  goods  .  .  .  which  when  the  people  of  the 
country  perceived  us  doing,  as  men  set  on  fire  to  war  in  defence  of  their  countrie,  in 
great  hast  and  companee,  with  such  weapons  as  they  had,  they  came  down  unto  us,  and 
yet  with  no  hostile  meaning  or  intent  to  hurt  us  :  standing  when  they  drew  ncerer,  as 
men  ravished  in  their  mindes,  with  the  sight  of  such  things,  as  they  never  had  scene  or 
heard  of  before  that  time  :  their  errand  being  rather  with  submission  and  feare  to  worship 
us  as  Gods,  than  to  have  warre  with  us  as  mortall  men  :  which  thing,  as  it  did  partly 
show  itselfe  at  that  instant,  so  did  it  more  and  more  manifest  itself  afterwards,  during  the 
whole  time  of  our  abode  amongst  them.  At  this  time,  being  veilled  by  signs  to  lay 
from  them  their  bowes  and  arrowes,  they  did  as  they  were  directed  and  so  did  all  the 
rest,  as  they  came  more  and  more  by  companies  unto  him,  growing  in  a  little  while  to  a 
great  number,  both  of  men  and  women. 

"...  Our  Generall,  with  all  his  company,  used  all  meanes  possible  gently  to 
intreate  them,  bestowing  upon  each  of  them  liberally  good  and  necessary  things  to  cover 
their  nakedness ;  withall  signifying  unto  them  we  were  no  Gods  but  men,  and  had  need 
of  such  things  to  cover  our  owne  shame ;  teaching  them  to  use  them  to  the  same  ends, 
for  which  cause  also  we  did  eate  and  drinke  in  their  presence,  .  .  .  they  bestowed  upon 
our  Generall  and  diverse  of  our  company,  diverse  things  as  feathers,  cawles  of  networkc, 
the  quivers  of  their  arrowes,  made  of  faune  skins,  and  the  very  skins  of  beasts  that  their 
women  wore  upon  their  bodies  .  .  .  they  departed  with  joy  to  their  houses,  which 
houses  are  digged  round  within  the  earth,  and  have  from  the  uppermost  brimmes  of  the 
circle,  clefts  of  wood  set  up,  and  joyned  close  together  at  the  top,  like  our  spires  on  the 
steeple  of  a  church,  which  being  covered  with  earth,  ...  are  very  warme  ;  the  doore 


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FRANCIS   DRAKE   IN   CALIFORNIA     171 

in  the  most  of  them  performs  the  office  also  of  a  chimney  to  let  out  the  smoake  ;  it's 
made  in  bignesse  and  fashion  like  to  an  ordinary  scuttle  in  a  ship,  and  standing  slope-wise  ; 
the  beds  are  the  hard  ground,  onely  with  rushes  strewed  upon  it  and  lying  round  about 
the  house,  have  their  fire  in  the  middest,  .  .  .  with  all  expedition  we  set  up  our  tents, 
and  intrenched  ourselves  with  walls  of  stone.  .  .  .  Against  the  end  of  two  dales, 
there  was  gathered  together  a  great  assembly  of  men,  women  and  children,  bringing  with 
them  as  they  had  before  done,  feathers  and  bagges  of  Tobah  for  present,  or  rather  for 
sacrifices  upon  this  persuasion  that  we  were  Gods. 

' '  When  they  came  to  the  top  of  the  hill  at  the  bottom  whereof  we  had  built  our 
fort,  they  made  a  stand  ;  "  .  .  .  "  this  bloodie  sacrifice  (against  our  wils)  being  thus 
performed,  our  generall,  with  his  companie,  in  the  presence  of  those  strangers,  fell  to 
prayers  ;  and  by  signes  in  lifting  up  our  eyes  and  hands  to  heaven,  signified  unto  them 
that  that  God  whom  we  did  serve  and  whom  they  ought  to  worship,  was  above  : 
beseeching  God,  if  it  were  his  good  pleasure,  to  open  by  some  meanes  their  blinded  eyes, 
that  they  might  in  due  time  be  called  to  the  knowledge  of  Him,  the  true  and  everliving 
God;  and  of  Jesus  Christ,  whom  he  hath  sent,  the  salvation  of  the  Gentiles.  In  the 
time  of  which  prayers,  singing  of  Psalmes,  and  reading  of  certaine  Chapters  in  the  Bible, 
they  sate  very  attentively,  and  observing  the  end  of  every  pause,  with  one  voice  still  cried 
'  oh  '  greatly  rejoicing  in  our  exercises. 

#***-***# 

'*  Our  generall  caused  to  be  set  up  a  monument  of  our  being  there,  as  also  of  her 
majesties  and  successors  right  and  title  to  that  kingdom  ;  namely  a  plate  of  brasse,  fast 
nailed  to  a  great  and  firme  poste ;  whereon  is  engraven  her  graces'  name,  and  the  day 
and  year  of  our  arrival  there,  and  of  the  free  giving  up  of  the  province  and  kingdom, 
both  by  the  king  and  people,  unto  her  majesties'  hands  :  together  with  her  highnesse 
picture  and  arms,  in  a  piece  of  sixpence  current  English  monie,  shewing  itselfe  by  a  hole 
made  of  purpose  through  the  plate  ;  underneath  was  likewise  engraven  the  name  of  our 
Generall.  .  .  . 

"  The  Spaniards  never  had  any  dealings,  or  so  much  as  set  a  foote  in  this  country, 
the  utmost  of  their  discoveries  reaching  onely  to  many  degrees  Southward  of  this  place." 

The  Spanish  version  of  Drake's  burial  is,  that  the  body  was  weighted  with  shot  at 
the  heels  and  heaved  over  into  the  sea,  without  coffin  or  ceremony. 


CHAPTER   VII 

1728-1779 
CAPTAIN   COOK   IN   AMERICA 

The  English  Navigator  sent  Two  Hundred  Years  later  to  find  the 
New  Albion  of  Drake's  Discoveries  —  He  misses  both  the  Straits  of 
Fuca  and  the  Mouth  of  the  Columbia,  but  anchors  at  Nootka,  the 
Rendezvous  of  Future  Traders  —  No  Northeast  Passage  found 
through  Alaska — The  True  Cause  of  Cook's  Murder  in  Hawaii 
told  by  Ledyard  —  Russia  becomes  Jealous  of  his  Explorations 

IT  seems  impossible  that  after  all  his  arduous  labors 
and  death,  to  prove  his  convictions,  Bering's  conclu- 
sions should  have  been  rejected  by  the  world  oflearning. 
Surely  his  coasting  westward,  southwestward,  abreast 
the  long  arm  of  Alaska's  peninsula  for  a  thousand 
miles,  should  have  proved  that  no  open  sea  —  no 
Northeast  Passage  —  was  here,  between  Asia  and 
America.  But  no !  the  world  of  learning  said 
fog  had  obscured  Bering's  observations.  What  he 
took  for  the  mainland  of  America  had  been  only  a 
chain  of  islands.  Northward  of  those  islands  was  open 
sea  between  Asia  and  Europe,  which  might  afford 
direct  passage  between  East  and  West  without  cir- 
cumnavigating the  globe.  In  fact,  said  Dr.  Campbell, 

172 


CAPTAIN    COOK    IN   AMERICA      173 

one  of  the  most  learned  English  writers  of  the  day, 
"Nothing  is  plainer  than  that  his  (Bering's)  discovery 
does  not  warrant  any  such  supposition  as  that  he 
touched  the  great  continent  making  part  of  North 
America." 

The  moonshine  of  the  learned  men  in  France  and 
Russia  was  even  wilder.  They  had  definitely  proved, 
even  if  there  were  no  Gamaland  —  as  Bering's  voyage 
had  shown  —  then  there  must  be  a  southern  continent 
somewhere,  to  keep  the  balance  between  the  northern 
and  southern  hemispheres;  else  the  world  would  turn 
upside  down.  And  there  must  also  be  an  ocean  be- 
tween northern  Europe  and  northern  Asia,  else  the 
world  would  be  top-heavy  and  turn  upside  down.  It 
was  an  age  when  the  world  accepted  creeds  for  piety, 
and  learned  moonshine  instead  of  scientific  data;  when, 
in  a  word,  men  refused  to  bow  to  fact ! 

All  sorts  of  wild  rumors  were  current.  There  was  a 
vast  continent  in  the  south.  There  was  a  vast  sea  in 
the  north.  Somewhere  w^s  the  New  Albion,  which 
Francis  Drake  had  found  north  of  New  Spain.  Just 
north  of  the  Spanish  possessions  in  America  was  a 
wide  inlet  leading  straight  through  from  the  Pacific 
to  the  Atlantic,  which  an  old  Greek  pilot  —  named  Juan 
de  Fuca  —  said  he  had  traversed  for  the  viceroy  of 
New  Spain. 

Even  stolid-going  England  was  infected  by  the  rage 
for  imaginary  oceans  and  continents.  The  Hudson's 
Bay  Fur  Company  was  threatened  with  a  withdrawal 


174         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

of  its  charter  because  it  had  failed  to  find  a  Northwest 
Passage  from  Atlantic  to  Pacific.  Only  four  years 
after  the  death  of  Bering,  an  act  of  Parliament  offered 
a  reward  of  twenty  thousand  pounds  to  the  officers 
and  crew  of  any  ships  discovering  a  passage  between 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  north  of  52°.  There  were  even 
ingenious  fellows  with  the  letters  of  the  Royal  Society 
behind  their  names,  who  affected  to  think  that  the  great 
Athabasca  Lake,  which  Hearne  had  found,  when  he 
tramped  inland  from  the  Arctic  and  Coppermine 
River,  was  a  strait  leading  to  the  Pacific.  Athabasca 
Lake  might  be  the  imaginary  strait  of  the  Greek  pilot, 
Juan  de  Fuca.  To  be  sure,  two  Hudson's  Bay  Com- 
pany ships'  crews  —  those  under  Knight  and  Barlow  — 
had  been  totally  lost  fifty  years  before  Hearne's  tramp 
inland  in  1771,  trying  to  find  that  same  mythical  strait 
of  Juan  de  Fuca  westward  of  Hudson  Bay. 

But  so  furious  did  public  opinion  wax  over  a  North- 
west Passage  at  the  very  time  poor  Bering  was  dying 
in  the  North  Pacific,  that  Captain  Middleton  was  sent 
to  Hudson  Bay  in  1741-1742  to  find  a  way  to  the  Pa- 
cific. And  when  Middleton  failed  to  find  water  where 
the  Creator  had  placed  land,  Dobbs,  the  patron  of  the 
expedition  and  champion  of  a  Northwest  Passage  at 
once  roused  the  public  to  send  out  two  more  ships  — 
the  Dobbs  and  California.  Failure  again !  Theories 
never  yet  made  Fact,  never  so  much  as  added  a  hair's 
weight  to  Fact !  Ellis,  who  was  on  board,  affected  to 
think  that  Chesterfield  Inlet  —  a  great  arm  of  the  sea, 


CAPTAIN    COOK    IN   AMERICA      175 

westward  of  Hudson  Bay  —  might  lead  to  the  Pacific. 
This  supposition  was  promptly  exploded  by  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  Fur  Company  sending  Captain  Christopher 
and  Moses  Norton,  the  local  governor  of  the  company, 
up  Chesterfield  inlet  for  two  hundred  miles,  where 
they  found,  not  the  Pacific,  but  a  narrow  river. 
Then  the  hue  and  cry  of  the  learned  theorists  was  - 
the  Northwest  Passage  lay  northward  of  Hudson  Bay. 
Hearne  was  sent  tramping  inland  to  find  —  not  sea, 
but  land;  and  when  he  returned  with  the  report  of 
the  great  Athabasca  Lake  of  Mackenzie  River  region, 
the  lake  was  actually  seized  on  as  proof  that  there  was 
a  waterway  to  the  Pacific.  Then  the  brilliant  plan 
was  conceived  to  send  ships  by  both  the  Atlantic  and 
the  Pacific  to  find  this  mythical  passage  from  Europe 
to  Asia.  Pickersgill,  who  had  been  on  the  Pacific,  was 
to  go  out  north  of  Hudson  Bay  and  work  westward. 
To  work  eastward  from  the  Pacific  to  the  Atlantic  was 
chosen  a  man  who  had  already  proved  there  was  no 
great  continental  mass  on  the  south,  and  that  the  world 
did  not  turn  upside  down,  and  who  was  destined  to 
prove  there  was  no  great  open  ocean  on  the  north, 
and  still  the  world  did  not  turn  upside  down.  He  was 
a  man  whose  whole  life  had  been  based  and  built  upon 
Fact,  not  Theory.  He  was  a  man  who  accepted 
Truth  as  God  gave  it  to  him,  not  as  he  had  theorized 
it  ought  to  be;  a  man  who  had  climbed  from  a  mud 
cottage  to  the  position  of  the  greatest  navigator  in  the 
world  —  had  climbed  on  top  of  facts  mastered,  not 


176         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

of  schoolgirl  moonshine,  or  study-closet  theories. 
That  man  was  Captain  James  Cook. 

Cook's  life  presents  all  the  contrasts  of  true  greatness 
world  over.  Like  Peter  the  Great,  of  Russia,  whose 
word  had  set  in  motion  the  exploration  of  the  north- 
west coast  of  America,  Cook's  character  consisted 
of  elements  that  invariably  lead  to  glory  or  ruin  ;  often, 
both.  The  word  "impossible"  was  not  in  his  vocabu- 
lary. He  simply  did  not  recognize  any  limitations  to 
what  a  man  might  do,  could  do,  would  do,  if  he  tried ; 
and  that  means,  that  under  stress  of  risk  or  tempta- 
tion, or  opposition,  a  man's  caution  goes  to  the  winds. 
With  Cook,  it  was  risk  that  caused  ruin.  With  the 
Czar  of  Russia,  it  was  temptation. 

Born  at  Marton,  a  small  parish  of  a  north  riding  in 
the  county  of  York,  October  27,  1728,  James  Cook 
was  the  son  of  a  day-laborer  in  an  age  when  manual 
toil  was  paid  at  the  rate  of  a  few  pennies  a  day.  There 
were  nine  of  a  family.  The  home  was  a  thatch-roofed 
mud  cottage.  Two  years  after  Cook's  birth,  the  father 
was  appointed  bailiff,  which  slightly  improved  family 
finances;  but  James  was  thirteen  years  of  age  before 
it  was  possible  to  send  him  to  school.  There,  the 
progress  of  his  learning  was  a  gallop.  He  had  a  wizard- 
genius  for  figures.  In  three  short  years  he  had  mastered 
all  the  Ayton  school  could  teach  him.  At  sixteen,  his 
schooling  was  over.  The  father's  highest  ambition 
seems  to  have  been  for  the  son  to  become  a  successful 
shopkeeper  in  one  of  the  small  towns.  The  future 


CAPTAIN    COOK   IN   AMERICA      177 

navigator  was  apprenticed  to  the  village  shop ;  but 
Cook's  ambitions  were  not  to  be  caged  behind  a  counter. 
Eastward  rolled  the  North  Sea.  Down  at  Hull 
were  heard  seamen's  yarns  to  make  the  blood  of  a  boy 
jump.  It  was  1746.  The  world  was  ringing  with 
tales  of  Bering  on  the  Pacific,  of  a  southern  continent, 
which  didn't  exist,  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Fur  Company's 
illimitable  domain  in  the  north,  of  La  Verendrye's 
wonderful  discoveries  of  an  almost  boundless  region 
westward  of  New  France  toward  the  uncharted 
Western  Sea.  In  a  year  and  a  half,  Cook  had  his  fill 
of  shopkeeping.  Whether  he  ran  away,  or  had  served 
his  master  so  well  that  the  latter  willingly  remitted 
the  three  years'  articles  of  apprenticeship,  Cook  now 
followed  his  destiny  to  the  sea.  According  to  the 
world's  standards,  the  change  seemed  progress  back- 
ward. He  was  articled  to  a  ship-owner  of  Whitby  as  a 
common  seaman  on  a  coaler  sailing  between  Newcastle 
and  London.  One  can  see  such  coalers  any  day  — 
black  as  smut,  grimed  from  prow  to  stern,  with  work- 
men almost  black  shovelling  coal  or  hoisting  tackling 
-  pushing  in  and  put  among  the  statelier  craft  of  any 
seaport.  It  is  this  stage  in  a  great  man's  career 
which  is  the  test.  Is  the  man  sure  enough  of  himself 
to  leave  everything  behind,  and  jump  over  the  precipice 
into  the  unknown  ?  If  ever  he  wishes  to  return  to  what 
he  has  left,  he  will  have  just  the  height  of  this  jump  to 
climb  back  to  the  old  place.  The  old  place  is  a  cer- 
tainty. The  unknown  may  engulf  in  failure.  He 


178          VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

must  chance  that,  and  all  for  the  sake  of  a  faith  in  him- 
self, which  has  not  yet  been  justified;  for  the  sake  of  a 
vague  star  leading  into  the  misty  unknown.  He  knows 
that  he  could  have  been  successful  in  the  old  place. 
He  does  not  know  that  he  may  not  be  a  failure  in  the 
new  place.  Art,  literature,  science,  commerce  —  in 
all  —  it  is  the  men  and  women  who  have  dared  to  risk 
being  failures  that  have  proved  the  mainspring  of 
progress.  Cook  was  sure  enough  of  himself  to  ex- 
change shopkeeper's  linen  for  the  coal-heaver's  blue 
jeans,  to  risk  following  the  star  of  his  destiny  to  the 
sea. 

Presently,  the  commonplace,  grimy  duties  which  he 
must  fulfil  are  taking  him  to  Dublin,  to  Liverpool, 
to  Norway ;  and  by  the  time  he  is  twenty-two,  he  knows 
the  Baltic  trade  well,  and  has  heard  all  the  pros  and 
cons  of  the  furious  cackle  which  the  schools  have 
raised  over  that  expedition  of  Bering's  to  the  west 
coast  of  America.  By  the  time  he  is  twenty-four  he 
is  a  first  mate  on  the  coal  boats.  Comes  another  vital 
change !  When  he  left  the  shop,  he  felt  all  that  he  had 
to  do  to  follow  his  destiny  was  to  go  to  sea.  Now  the 
star  has  led  him  up  to  a  blank  wall.  The  only  promo- 
tion he  can  obtain  on  these  merchantmen  is  to  a  cap- 
tainship; and  the  captaincy  on  a  small  merchantman 
will  mean  pretty  much  a  monotonous  flying  back  and 
forward  like  a  shuttle  between  the  ports  of  Europe  and 
England. 

Cook  took  a  resolution  that  would  have  cost  any 


CAPTAIN    COOK    IN   AMERICA      179 

man  but  one  with  absolute  singleness  of  purpose  a 
poignant  effort.  At  the  age  of  twenty-seven,  he  de- 
cided to  enter  the  Royal  Navy.  Now,  in  a  democratic 
age,  we  don't  talk  about  such  things;  but  there  are 
unwritten  laws  and  invisible  lines  just  the  same.  Stand- 
ing on  the  captain's  deck  of  an  American  warship  not 
long  ago,  watching  the  deck  hands  below  putting 
things  shipshape,  I  asked  an  officer  —  "Is  there  any 
chance  for  those  men  to  rise?" 

"Yes,  some,"  he  answered  tentatively,  "but  then, 
there  is  a  difference  between  the  men  who  have  been 
trained  for  a  position,  and  those  who  have  worked  up 
the  line  to  it."  If  that  difference  exists  in  a  demo- 
cratic country  and  age,  what  was  it  for  Cook  in  a  coun- 
try and  at  a  time  when  lines  of  caste  were  hard  and 
fast  drawn  ?  But  he  entered  the  navy  on  the  Eagle 
under  Sir  Hugh  Palliser,  who,  almost  at  once, 
transferred  him  from  the  forecastle  to  the  quarter- 
deck. What  was  the  explanation  of  such  quick  recog- 
nition ?  Therein  lies  the  difference  between  the  man 
who  tries  and  succeeds,  and  the  man  who  tries  and 
fails.  Cook  had  qualified  himself  for  promotion.  He 
was  so  fitted  for  the  higher  position,  that  the  higher 
position  could  not  do  without  him.  Whether  rocking 
on  the  Baltic,  or  waiting  for  the  stokers  to  heave  out 
coal  at  Liverpool,  every  moment  not  occupied  by  sea- 
man's duties,  Cook  had  filled  by  improving  himself, 
by  increasing  his  usefulness,  by  sharpening  his  brain, 
so  that  his  brain  could  better  direct  his  hands,  by 


i8o         VIKINGS    OF   THE    PACIFIC 

studying  mathematics  and  astronomy  and  geography 
and  science  and  navigation.  As  some  one  has  said  — 
there  are  lots  of  people  with  hands  and  no  brain;  and 
there  are  lots  of  people  with  brains  and  no  hands; 
but  the  kind  who  will  command  the  highest  reward 
for  their  services  to  the  world  are  those  who  have  the 
finest  combination  of  brains  and  hands. 

Four  years  after  Cook  had  joined  the  navy,  he  was 
master  on  the  Mercury  with  the  fleet  before  Quebec, 
making  a  chart  of  the  St.  Lawrence  for  Wolfe  to  take 
the  troops  up  to  the  Heights  of  Abraham,  piloting  the 
boats  to  the  attack  on  Montmorency,  and  conducting 
the  embarkation  of  the  troops,  who  were  to  win  the 
famous  battle,  that  changed  the  face  of  America. 

Now,  the  Royal  Society  wished  to  send  some  one  to 
the  South  Seas,  whose  reliability  was  of  such  a  recog- 
nized and  steady-going  sort,  that  his  conclusions  would 
be  accepted  by  the  public.  Just  twenty  years  from  the 
time  that  he  had  left  the  shop,  Cook  was  chosen  for 
this  important  mission.  What  manner  of  man  was  he, 
who  in  that  time  had  risen  from  life  in  a  mud  hut  to 
the  rank  of  a  commander  in  the  Royal  Navy  ?  In 
manner,  he  was  plain  and  simple  and  direct,  no  flourish, 
no  unnecessary  palaver  of  showy  words,  not  a  word  he 
did  not  mean.  In  form,  he  was  six  feet  tall,  in  perfect 
proportion,  with  brown  hair  and  eyes,  alertly  pene- 
trating, with  features  sharp  rather  from  habit  of 
thought  than  from  natural  shape. 

On  this  mission  he  left  England  in  1768,  anchored  at 


Captain  James  Cook. 


CAPTAIN   COOK   IN   AMERICA      181 

the  Society  Islands  of  the  South  Seas  in  the  spring  of 
1769,  explored  New  Zealand  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year, 
rounded  Australia  in  1770  and  returned  to  England 
in  1771,  the  very  year  Hearne  was  trying  to  tramp  it 
overland  in  search  of  a  Northwest  Passage.  And  he 
brought  back  no  proof  of  that  vast  southern  world 
which  geographers  had  put  on  their  maps.  Promptly 
he  was  sent  out  on  a  second  voyage  to  find  or  demolish 
that  mythical  continent  of  the  southern  hemisphere; 
and  he  demolished  the  myth  of  a  southern  continent 
altogether,  returning  from  circumnavigating  the  globe 
just  at  the  time  when  the  furor  of  a  Northwest  Passage 
northward  of  Hudson  Bay,  northward  even  of  Bering's 
course  on  the  Pacific,  was  at  its  height. 

The  third  voyage  was  to  determine  finally  the  bounds 
of  western  America,  the  possibilities  of  a  passage  be- 
tween Europe  and  Asia  by  way  of  the  Pacific.  Two 
ships  —  the  Resolution,  four  hundred  and  sixty  tons, 
one  hundred  and  twelve  men,  which  Cook  had  used 
before,  and  the  Discovery,  three  hundred  tons,  eighty 
men  —  were  purchased  at  Hull,  the  old  port  of  Cook's 
boyhood  dreams.  To  secure  the  good  will  of  the  crews, 
two  months'  wages  were  paid  in  advance.  Captain 
Clerke  commanded  the  Discovery ;  and  the  two  crews 
numbered  men  of  whom  the  world  was  to  hear  more 
in  connection  with  the  northwest  coast  of  America  - 
a  young  midshipman,  Vancouver,  whose  doings  were 
yet  to  checkmate  Spain;  a  young  American,  corporal 


182          VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

of  marines,  Ledyard,  who  was  to  have  his  brush  with 
Russia;  and  other  ambitious  young  seamen  destined 
to  become  famous  traders  on  the  west  coast  of  America. 

The  two  ships  left  England  in  midsummer  of  1776, 
crossed  the  equator  in  September  when  every  man  fresh 
to  the  episode  was  caught  and  ducked  overrails  in 
equatorial  waters,  rounded  Good  Hope,  touched  at 
the  Society  Islands  of  the  first  voyage,  and  by  spring  of 
1778  had  explored  and  anchored  at  the  Sandwich 
Islands.  Once  on  the  Pacific,  Cook  mustered  his 
crews  and  took  them  into  his  confidence;  he  was  going 
to  try  for  that  reward  of  twenty  thousand  pounds  to 
the  crew  that  discovered  a  Northeast  Passage;  and 
even  if  he  missed  the  reward,  he  was  going  to  have 
a  shy  at  the  most  northern  latitude  ever  attempted 
by  navigator  —  89°;  would  they  do  it?  The  crew 
cheered.  Whether  they  reached  89°  or  not,  they 
decided  to  preserve  their  grog  for  the  intense  cold  to 
be  encountered  in  the  north;  so  that  the  daily  allow- 
ance was  now  cut  to  half. 

By  March,  the  ships  were  off  from  the  Sandwich 
Islands  to  the  long  swell  of  the  Pacific,  the  slimy 
medusa  lights  covering  the  waters  with  a  phosphor- 
escent trail  of  fire  all  night,  the  rockweed  and  sea  leek 
floating  past  by  day  telling  their  tale  of  some  far  land. 
Cook's  secret  commission  had  been  very  explicit: 
"You  are  to  proceed  on  as  direct  a  course  as  you  can 
to  the  coast  of  New  Albion,  endeavoring  to  fall  in  with 
it  in  latitude  45°  north  .  .  .  and  are  strictly  enjoined 


CAPTAIN    COOK    IN   AMERICA      183 

not  to  touch  on  any  part  of  the  Spanish  dominions 
.  .  .  unless  driven  by  accident  .  .  .  and  to  be  very 
careful  not  to  give  any  umbrage  to  the  subjects  of  his 
Catholic  Majesty  .  .  .  and  if  in  further  progress 
northward  .  .  .  you  find  any  subjects  of  a  European 
prince  .  .  .  you  are  not  to  give  any  cause  of  offence 
.  .  .  proceed  northward  to  65°,  carefully  search  for 
such  inlets  as  appear  pointing  to  Hudson  Bay  .  .  . 
use  your  utmost  endeavors  to  pass  through."  The  com- 
mission shows  that  England  was  unaware  Spain  had 
pushed  north  of  45°,  and  Russia  north  of  65°;  for 
Spain  jealously  kept  her  explorations  secret,  and 
Russia's  were  not  accepted.  The  commission  also 
offered  a  reward  for  any  one  going  within  i°  of  the 
Pole.  It  may  be  added  —  the  offer  is  still  open. 

For  days  after  leaving  the  Sandwich  Islands,  not  a 
bird  was  to  be  seen.  That  was  a  bad  omen  for  land. 
Land  must  be  far,  indeed;  and  Cook  began  to  fear 
there  might  be  as  much  ocean  in  that  northern  hemi- 
sphere as  the  geographers  of  Russia  and  France  — 
who  actually  tabulated  Bering's  discoveries  as  an 
island  —  had  placed  on  the  maps.  But  in  the  first 
week  of  March,  a  sea-gull  came  swimming  over  the 
crest  of  a  wave.  Where  did  she  come  from  ?  Then 
an  albatross  was  seen  wheeling  above  the  sea.  Then, 
on  March  6,  two  lonely  land  seals  went  plying  past; 
and  whales  were  noticed.  Surely  they  were  nearing 
the  region  that  Drake,  the  English  freebooter,  had  seen 
and  named  New  Albion  two  hundred  years  before, 


1 84         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

Suddenly,  on  the  morning  of  March  7,  the  dim  offing 
ahead  showed  thin,  sharp,  clear  lines.  The  lines  rose 
higher  as  the  ship  approached.  They  cut  themselves 
against  the  sky  in  the  form  of  mountains  and  hills  with 
purple  mist  lying  in  the  valleys.  It  was  the  New  Albion 
at  latitude  44°  33',  which  Drake  had  discovered.  The 
day  was  hazy  and  warm.  Cook's  crews  wondered 
why  Drake  had  complained  of  such  cold.  By  night 
they  found  out.  A  roaring  hurricane  burst  from  the 
northern  darkness  with  squalls  of  hail  and  snow  and 
sleet,  that  turned  the  shore  to  one  long  reach  of  whitened 
cliffs  straight  up  and  down  out  of  the  sea.  In  com- 
memoration, they  called  the  first  landfall,  Cape  Foul- 
weather;  and,  in  spite  of  the  commission  to  sail  north, 
drove  under  bare  poles  before  the  storm  to  43°,  naming 
the  two  capes  passed  Perpetua  and  Gregory.  Only 
by  the  third  week  of  March  had  the  storm  abated 
enough  for  them  to  turn  north  again.1 

Now,  whether  the  old  Greek  pilot,  Juan  de  Fuca, 
lied  or  dreamed,  or  only  told  a  yarn  of  what  some 
Indian  had  told  him,  it  was  along  this  coast  that  he 
had  said  the  straits  leading  to  the  east  side  of  America 
lay;  and  Cook's  two  ships  hugged  the  coast  as  close  as 
they  dared  for  fear  of  roaring  breakers  and  a  landward 
wind.  On  March  23  rocks  were  seen  lying  off  a  high 
point  capped  with  trees,  behind  which  might  be  a 

1  The  question  may  occur,  why  in  the  account  of  Cook's  and  Bering's  voyage, 
the  latitude  is  not  oftener  given.  The  answer  is,  the  latitudes  as  given  by  Cook  and 
Bering  vary  so  much  from  the  modern,  it  would  only  confuse  the  reader  trying  to  follow 
a  modern  map. 


CAPTAIN    COOK    IN   AMERICA      185 

strait;  but  a  gale  ashore  and  a  lashing  tide  thundering 
over  the  rocks  sent  the  ships  scudding  for  the  offing 
through  fog  and  rain;  and  never  a  glimpse  of  a  passage 
eastward  could  the  crews  obtain.  Cook  called  the 
delusive  point  Cape  Flattery  and  added :  "  It  is  in  this 
very  latitude  (48°  15')  that  geographers  have  placed 
the  pretended  Straits  of  Juan  de  Fuca;  but  we  saw 
nothing  like  it;  nor  is  there  the  least  possibility  that  any 
such  thing  ever  existed."  But  Cook  was  too  far  out  to 
descry  the  narrow  opening — but  thirteen  miles  wide 
-  of  Juan  de  Fuca,  where  the  steamers  of  three  con- 
tinents ply  to-day;  though  the  strait  by  no  means  led 
to  Europe,  as  geographers  thought. 

All  night  a  hard  gale  drove  them  northward.  When 
the  weather  cleared,  permitting  them  to  approach  the 
coast  again,  high  mountains,  covered  with  snow  and 
forests,  jagged  through  the  clouds  like  tent  peaks. 
Tremendous  breakers  roared  over  sunken  rocks. 
Point  Breakers,  Cook  called  them.  Then  the  wind 
suddenly  fell;  and  the  ships  were  becalmed  directly 
opposite  the  narrow  entrance  of  a  two-horned  cove 
sheltered  by  the  mountains.  The  small  boats  had  all 
been  mustered  out  to  tow  the  two  ships  in,  when  a 
slight  breeze  sprang  up.  The  flotilla  drifted  inland 
just  as  three  canoes,  carved  in  bizarre  shapes  of  birds' 
heads  and  eagle  claws,  came  paddling  across  the  inlet. 
Three  savages  were  in  one,  six  in  the  other,  ten  in  the 
third.  They  came  slowly  over  the  water,  singing  some 
song  of  welcome,  beating  time  with  their  paddles, 


i86         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

scattering  downy  white  feathers  on  the  air,  at  intervals 
standing  up  to  harangue  a  welcome  to  the  newcomers. 
Soon  thirty  canoes  were  around  the  ships  with  some 
ten  warriors  in  each.  Still  they  came,  shoals  of  them, 
like  fish,  with  savages  almost  naked,  the  harbor  smooth 
as  glass,  the  grand  tyee,  or  great  chief  of  the  tribes, 
standing  erect  shouting  a  welcome,  with  long  elf-locks 
streaming  down  his  back.  Women  and  children  now 
appeared  in  the  canoes.  That  meant  peace.  The 
women  were  chattering  like  magpies;  the  men  gur- 
gling and  spluttering  their  surprise  at  the  white  visitors. 
For  safety's  sake  the  guns  of  the  two  ships  were 
pointed  ready;  but  the  natives  did  not  know  the  fear 
of  a  gun.  It  was  the  end  of  March  when  Cook  first 
anchored  off  what  he  thought  was  the  mainland  of 
America.  It  was  not  mainland,  but  an  island,  and 
the  harbor  was  one  to  become  famous  as  the  rendez- 
vous of  Pacific  traders  —  Nootka  ! 

Three  armed  boats  commanded  by  Mr.  King,  and 
one  under  Cook,  at  once  proceeded  from  the  ships  to 
explore  and  sound  the  inlet.  The  entrance  had  been 
between  two  rocky  points  four  miles  apart  past  a  chain 
of  sunken  rocks.  Except  in  a  northwest  corner  of  the 
inlet,  since  known  as  Snug  Cove,  the  water  was  too  deep 
for  anchorage;  so  the  two  ships  were  moored  to  trees, 
the  masts  unrigged,  the  iron  forge  set  to  work  on  the 
shore;  and  the  men  began  cutting  timber  for  the  new 
masts.  And  still  the  tiny  specks  dancing  over  the  waves 
carrying  canoe  loads  of  savages  to  the  English  ships, 


CAPTAIN    COOK    IN   AMERICA      187 

continued  to  multiply  till  the  harbor  seemed  alive 
with  warriors  —  two  thousand  at  least  there  must  have 
been  by  the  first  week  of  April  after  Cook's  arrival. 
Some  of  the  savages  wore  brightly  painted  wooden 
masks  as  part  of  their  gala  attire.  Others  carried 
totems  —  pieces  of  wood  carved  in  the  likeness  of 
bird  or  beast  to  typify  manitou  of  family  or  clan.  By 
way  of  showing  their  prowess,  some  even  offered  the 
white  men  human  skulls  from  which  the  flesh  had  not 
yet  been  taken.  By  this  Cook  knew  the  people  were 
cannibals.  Some  were  observed  to  be  wearing  spoons 
of  European  make  as  ornaments  round  their  necks. 
What  we  desire  to  believe  we  easily  accept.  The 
white  men  did  not  ascribe  the  spoons  to  traders  from 
New  Spain  on  the  south,  or  the  Russian  settlements  to 
the  north;  but  thought  this  place  must  be  within  trad- 
ing distance  of  Hudson  Bay,  whence  the  Indians  must 
have  obtained  the  spoons.  And  so  they  cherished  the 
hope  of  a  Northeast  Passage  from  this  slim  sign.  In 
a  few  days  fifteen  hundred  beaver  and  sea-otter  had 
been  obtained  in  trade,  sixty-nine  sea-otter  —  each  of 
which  was  worth  at  that  time  one  hundred  dollars  in 
modern  money  —  for  a  handful  of  old  nails. 

To  these  deep-sea  wanderers  of  Cook's  crews,  the 
harbor  was  as  a  fairy-land.  Snow  still  covered  the 
mountain  tops;  but  a  tangled  forest  of  dank  growth 
with  roots  awash  in  the  ripple  of  the  sea,  stretched 
down  the  hillsides.  Red  cedar,  spruce,  fir,  —  of 
enormous  growth,  broader  in  girth  than  a  cart  and 


188          VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

wagon  in  length,  —  cypress  with  twisted  and  gnarled 
knots  red  against  the  rank  green;  mosses  swinging 
from  branch  to  branch  in  snaky  coils  wherever  the 
clouds  settled  and  rested ;  islands  studding  the  sea 
like  emerald  gems;  grouse  drumming  their  spring  song 
through  the  dark  underbrush;  sea-mew  and  Mother 
Carey's  chickens  screaming  and  clacking  overhead; 
the  snowy  summits  red  as  wine  in  the  sunset  glow  - 
all  made  up  an  April  scene  long  cherished  by  these 
adventurers  of  the  North. 

Early  one  morning  in  April  the  men  cutting  timber 
inland  were  startled  to  notice  the  underbrush  alive 
with  warriors  armed.  The  first  fear  was  of  an  ambush. 
Cook  ordered  the  men  to  an  isolated  rock  ready  for 
defence;  but  the  grand  tyee  or  chief  explained  by 
signs  that  his  tribe  was  only  keeping  off  another  tribe 
that  wanted  to  trade  with  the  white  men.  The  worst 
trouble  was  from  the  inordinate  thieving  propensities 
of  the  natives.  Iron,  nails,  belaying  pins,  rudders, 
anchors,  bits  of  sail,  a  spike  that  could  be  pulled  from 
the  rotten  wood  of  the  outer  keel  by  the  teeth  of  a  thief 
paddling  below  —  anything,  everything  was  snatched 
by  the  light-fingered  gentry.  Nor  can  we  condemn 
them  for  it.  Their  moral  standard  was  the  Wolf  Code 
of  Existence  —  which  the  white  man  has  elaborated 
in  his  evolution  —  to  take  whatever  they  had  the  dex- 
terity and  strength  to  take  and  to  keep.  When  caught 
in  theft,  they  did  not  betray  as  much  sense  of  guilt  as 
a  dog  stealing  a  bone.  Why  should  they  ?  Their 


CAPTAIN    COOK    IN    AMERICA      189 

code  was  to  take.  The  chief  of  the  Nootkas  presented 
Cook  with  a  sea-otter  cloak.  Cook  reciprocated  with 
a  brass-hiked  sword. 

By  the  end  of  April  the  ships  had  been  overhauled, 
and  Cook  was  ready  to  sail.  Porpoise  were  coursing 
the  sea  like  greyhounds,  and  the  stormy  petrels  in  a 
clatter;  but  Cook  was  not  to  be  delayed  by  storm. 
Barely  had  the  two  ships  cleared  the  harbor,  when 
such  a  squall  broke  loose,  they  could  do  nothing  but 
scud  for  open  sea,  turn  tails  to  the  wind,  and  lie  help- 
less as  logs,  heads  south.  If  it  had  not  been  for  this 
storm,  Cook  would  certainly  have  discovered  that 
Nootka  was  on  an  island,  not  the  coast  of  the  main- 
land; but  by  the  time  the  weather  permitted  an  ap- 
proach to  land  again,  Friday,  May  i,  the  ships  were 
abreast  that  cluster  of  islands  below  the  snowy  cone  of 
Mt.  Edgecumbe,  Sitka,  where  Chirikoff's  Russians  had 
first  put  foot  on  American  soil.  Cook  was  now  at  the 
northernmost  limit  of  Spanish  voyaging. 

By  the  4th  of  May  Cook  had  sighted  and  passed 
the  Fairweather  Range,  swung  round  westward  on  the 
old  course  followed  by  Bering,  and  passed  under  the 
shadow  of  St.  Elias  towering  through  the  clouds  in  a 
dome  of  snow.  On  the  6th  the  ships  were  at  Kyak, 
where  Bering  had  anchored,  and  amid  myriad  ducks 
and  gulls  were  approaching  a  broad  inlet  northward. 
Now,  just  as  Bering  had  missed  exploring  this  part  of 
the  coast  owing  to  fog,  so  Cook  had  failed  to  trace  that 
long  archipelago  of  islands  from  Sitka  Sound  north- 


i9o         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

ward;  but  here,  where  the  coast  trends  straight  west- 
ward, was  an  opening  that  roused  hopes  of  a  Northeast 
Passage.  The  Resolution  had  sprung  a  leak;  and  in 
the  second  week  of  May,  the  inlet  was  entered  in  the 
hope  of  a  shelter  to  repair  the  leak  and  a  way  north- 
east to  the  Atlantic.  Barely  had  the  ships  passed  up 
the  sound,  when  they  were  enshrouded  in  a  fog  that 
wiped  out  every  outline;  otherwise,  the  high  coast  of 
glacial  palisades  —  two  hundred  feet  in  places  and 
four  miles  broad  —  might  have  been  seen  landlocked 
by  mountains;  but  Mr.  Gore  launched  out  in  a  small 
boat  steering  north  through  haze  and  tide-rip.  Twenty 
natives  were  seen  clad  in  sea-otter  skins,  by  which  - 
the  white  men  judged  —  no  Russians  could  have 
come  to  this  sound;  for  the  Russians  would  not  have 
permitted  the  Indians  to  keep  such  valuable  sea-otter 
clothing.  The  glass  beads  possessed  by  the  natives 
were  supposed  to  attest  proximity  to  traders  of  Hudson 
Bay.  With  an  almost  animal  innocence  of  wrong,  the 
Indians  tried  to  steal  the  small  boat  of  the  Discovery, 
flourishing  their  spears  till  the  white  crew  mustered. 
At  another  time,  when  the  Discovery  lay  anchored, 
few  lanterns  happened  to  be  on  deck.  No  sailors 
were  visible.  It  was  early  in  the  morning  and  every- 
body was  asleep,  the  boat  dark.  The  natives  swarmed 
up  the  ship's  sides  like  ants  invading  a  sugar  canister. 
Looking  down  the  hatches  without  seeing  any  whites, 
they  at  once  drew  their  knives  and  began  to  plunder.. 
The  whites  dashed  up  the  hatchway  and  drove  the 


CAPTAIN    COOK    IN    AMERICA      191 

plunderers  over  the  rails  at  sword  point.  East  and 
north  the  small  boats  skirted  the  mist-draped  shores, 
returning  at  midnight  with  word  the  inlet  was  a  closed 
shore.  There  was  no  Northeast  Passage.  They 
called  the  spider-shaped  bay  Prince  William  Sound; 
and  at  ten  in  the  morning  headed  out  for  sea. 

Here  a  fresh  disappointment  awaited  them.  The 
natives  of  Prince  William  Sound  had  resembled  the 
Eskimos  of  Greenland  so  much  that  the  explorers 
were  prepared  to  find  themselves  at  the  westward  end 
of  the  American  continent  ready  to  round  north  into 
the  Atlantic.  A  long  ledge  of  land  projected  into  the 
sea.  They  called  this  Cape  Elizabeth,  passed  it, 
noted  the  reef  of  sunken  rocks  lying  directly  athwart  a 
terrific  tidal  bore,  and  behold !  not  the  end  of  the  con- 
tinent —  no,  not  by  a  thousand  miles  —  but  straight 
across  westward,  beneath  a  smoking  volcano  that 
tinged  the  fog  ruby-red,  a  lofty,  naked  spur  three 
miles  out  into  the  sea,  with  crest  hidden  among  the 
clouds  and  rock-base  awash  in  thundering  breakers. 
This  was  called  Cape  Douglas.  Between  these  two 
capes  was  a  tidal  flood  of  perhaps  sixty  miles'  breadth. 
Where  did  it  come  from  ?  Up  went  hopes  again  for 
the  Northeast  Passage,  and  the  twenty  thousand 
pounds !  Spite  of  driftwood,  and  roily  waters,  and  a 
flood  that  ran  ten  miles  an  hour,  and  a  tidal  bore  that 
rose  twenty  feet,  up  the  passage  they  tacked,  east  to 
west,  west  to  east,  plying  up  half  the  month  of  June  in 
rain  and  sleet,  with  the  heavy  pall  of  black  smoke 


i92          VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

rolling  from  the  volcano  left  far  on  the  offing!  At 
last  the  opening  was  seen  to  turn  abruptly  straight 
east.  Out  rattled  the  small  boats.  Up  the  muddy 
waters  they  ran  for  nine  miles  till  salt  water  became 
fresh  water,  and  the  explorers  found  themselves  on  a 
river.  In  irony,  this  point  was  called  Turn-Again. 
The  whole  bay  is  now  known  as  Cook's  Inlet.  Mr. 
King  was  sent  ashore  on  the  south  side  of  Turn-Again 
to  take  possession.  Twenty  natives  in  sea-otter  skins 
stood  by  watching  the  ceremony  of  flag  unfurled  and 
the  land  of  their  fathers  being  declared  the  possession 
of  England.  These  natives  were  plainly  acquainted 
with  the  use  of  iron;  but  "I  will  be  bold  to  say," 
relates  Cook,  "they  do  not  know  the  Russians,  or  they 
would  not  be  wearing  these  valuable  sea-otter  skins." 

No  Northeast  Passage  here !  So  out  they  ply  again 
for  open  sea  through  misty  weather;  and  when  it 
clears,  they  are  in  the  green  treeless  region  west  of 
Cook's  Inlet.  Past  Kadiak,  past  Bering's  Foggy  Isl- 
and, past  the  Shumagins  where  Bering's  first  sailor 
to  die  of  scurvy  had  been  buried,  past  volcanoes  throw- 
ing up  immense  quantities  of  blood-red  smoke,  past 
pinnacled  rocks,  through  mists  so  thick  the  roar  of  the 
breakers  is  their  only  guide,  they  glide,  or  drift,  or 
move  by  inches  feeling  the  way  cautiously,  fearful  of 
wreck. 

Toward  the  end  of  June  a  great  hollow  green  swell 
swings  them  through  the  straits  past  Oonalaska, 
northward  at  last !  Natives  are  seen  in  green  trousers 


CAPTAIN    COOK    IN    AMERICA      193 

and  European  shirts;  natives  who  take  off  their  hats 
and  make  a  bow  after  the  pompous  fashion  of  the 
Russians. 

Twice  natives  bring  word  to  Cook  by  letter  and 
sign  that  the  Russians  of  Oonalaska  wish  to  see  him. 
But  Captain  Cook  is  not  anxious  to  see  the  Russians 
just  now.  He  wants  to  forestall  their  explorations 
northward  and  take  possession  of  the  Polar  realm  for 
England.  In  August  they  are  in  Bristol  Bay,  north 
of  the  Aleutians,  directly  opposite  Asia.  Here  Dr. 
Anderson,  the  surgeon,  dies  of  consumption.  Not  so 
much  fog  now.  They  can  follow  the  mainland.  Far 
ahead  there  projects  straight  out  in  the  sea  a  long  spit 
of  land  backed  by  high  hills,  the  westernmost  point 
of  North  America  —  Cape  Prince  of  Wales  !  Bering 
is  vindicated  !  Just  fifty  years  from  Bering's  explora- 
tion of  1728,  the  English  navigator  finds  what  Bering 
found :  that  America  and  Asia  are  not  united ;  that  no 
Northeast  Passage  exists;  that  no  great  oceanic  body 
lies  north  of  New  Spain;  that  Alaska  —  as  the  Rus- 
sian maps  had  it  after  Bering's  death  —  is  not  an 
island. 

Wind,  rain,  roily,  shoaly  seas  breaking  clear  over  the 
ship  across  decks  drove  Cook  out  from  land  to  deeper 
water.  With  an  Englishman's  thoroughness  for  doing 
things  and  to  make  deadly  sure  just  how  the  two  con- 
tinents lay  to  each  other,  Cook  now  scuds  across  Bering 
Strait  thirty-nine  miles  to  the  Chukchee  land  of  Siberia 
in  Asia.  How  he  praises  the  accuracy  of  poor  Be- 


194 


VIKINGS    OF   THE    PACIFIC 


ring's  work  along  this  coast:  Bering,  whose  name  had 
been  a  target  for  ridicule  and  contempt  from  the  time 
of  his  death;  whose  death  was  declared  a  blunder; 
whose  voyage  was  considered  a  failure;  whose  charts 
had  been  rejected  and  distorted  by  the  learned  men  of 
the  world. 


The  Ice  Islands. 

From  the  Chukchee  villages  of  Asia,  Cook  sailed 
back  to  the  American  coast,  passing  north  of  Bering 
Straits  directly  in  mid-channel.  It  is  an  odd  thing, 
while  very  little  ice-drift  is  met  in  Bering  Sea,  you 
have  no  sooner  passed  north  of  the  straits  than  a  white 
world  surrounds  you.  Fog,  ice,  ice,  fog  —  endlessly, 
with  palisades  of  ice  twelve  feet  high,  east  and  west, 
far  as  the  eye  can  see !  The  crew  amuse  themselves 
alternately  gathering  driftwood  for  fuel,  and  hunting 


CAPTAIN    COOK    IN   AMERICA      195 

walrus  over  the  ice.  It  is  in  the  North  Pacific  that  the 
walrus  attains  its  great  size  —  nine  feet  in  length, 
broader  across  its  back  than  any  animal  known  to  the 
civilized  world.  These  piebald  yellow  monsters  lay 
wallowing  in  herds  of  hundreds  on  the  ice-fields.  At 
the  edge  lay  always  one  on  the  watch;  and  no  matter 
how  dense  the  fog,  these  walrus  herds  on  the  ice, 
braying  and  roaring  till  the  surf  shook,  acted  as  a 
fog-horn  to  Cook's  ships,  and  kept  them  from  being 
jammed  in  the  ice-drift.  Soon  two-thirds  of  the  furs 
got  at  Nootka  had  spoiled  of  rain-rot.  The  vessels 
were  iced  like  ghost  ships.  Tack  back  and  forward  as 
they  might,  no  passage  opened  through  the  ice.  Sud- 
denly Cook  found  himself  in  shoal  water,  on  a  lee 
shore,  long  and  low  and  shelving,  with  the  ice  drifting 
on  his  ships.  He  called  the  place  Icy  Cape.  It  was 
their  farthest  point  north;  and  the  third  week  of 
August  they  were  compelled  to  scud  south  to  escape 
the  ice.  Backing  away  toward  Asia,  he  reached  the 
North  Cape  there.  It  was  almost  September.  In  ac- 
cordance with  the  secret  instructions,  Cook  turned 
south  to  winter  at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  passing 
Serdze  Kamen,  where  Bering  had  turned  back  in 
1728,  East  Cape  on  the  Straits  of  Bering  just  opposite 
the  American  Prince  of  Wales,  and  St.  Lawrence  isl- 
ands where  the  ships  anchored. 

Norton  Sound  was  explored  on  the  way  back;  and 
October  saw  Cook  down  at  Oonalaska,  where  Ledyard 
was  sent  overland  across  the  island  to  conduct  the 


196         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

Russian  traders  to  the  English  ships.  Three  Russians 
came  to  visit  Cook.  One  averred  that  he  had  been 
with  Bering  on  the  expedition  of  1741,  and  the  rough 
adventurers  seemed  almost  to  worship  the  Dane's 
memory.  Later  came  Ismyloff,  chief  factor  of  the 
Russian  fur  posts  in  Oonalaska,  attended  by  a  retinue 
of  thirty  native  canoes,  very  suave  as  to  manners,  very 
polished  and  pompous  when  he  was  not  too  convivial, 
but  very  chary  of  any  information  to  the  English, 
whose  charts  he  examined  with  keenest  interest,  giving 
them  to  understand  that  the  Empress  of  Russia  had 
first  claim  to  all  those  parts  of  the  country,  rising, 
quaffing  a  glass  and  bowing  profoundly  as  he  men- 
tioned the  august  name.  "  Friends  and  fellow-country- 
men glorious,"  the  English  were  to  the  smooth-tongued 
Russian,  as  they  drank  each  other's  health.  Learning 
that  Cook  was  to  visit  Avacha  Bay,  IsmylofF  proffered 
a  letter  of  introduction  to  Major  Behm,  Russian  com- 
mander of  Kamchatka.  Cook  thought  the  letter  one 
of  commendation.  It  turned  out  otherwise.  Fur 
traders,  world  over,  always  resented  the  coming  of  the 
explorer.  IsmylofF  was  neither  better  nor  worse  than 
his  kind.1 

Heavy  squalls  pursued  the  ships  all  the  way  from 
Oonalaska,  left  on  October  26,  to  the  Sandwich  Isl- 
ands, reached  in  the  new  year  1779.  A  thousand 
canoes  of  enthusiastic  natives  welcomed  Cook  back  to 
the  sunny  islands  of  the  Pacific.  Before  the  explorer 

1  This  is  the  Ismyloff  who  was  marooned  by  Benyowsky. 


CAPTAIN    COOK    IN    AMERICA      197 

could  anchor,  natives  were  swimming  round  the  ship 
like  shoals  of  fish.  When  Cook  landed,  the  whole 
population  prostrated  itself  at  his  feet  as  if  he  had 
been  a  god.  It  was  a  welcome  change  from  the  deso- 
late cold  of  the  inhospitable  north. 

Situated  midway  in  the  Pacific,  the  Sandwich  Isl- 
ands were  like  an  oasis  in  a  watery  waste  to  Cook's 
mariners.  The  ships  had  dropped  anchor  in  the 
centre  of  a  horn-shaped  bay  called  Karakakooa,  in 
Hawaii,  about  two  miles  from  horn  to  horn.  On  the 
sandy  flats  of  the  north  horn  was  the  native  village  of 
Kowrowa :  amid  the  cocoanut  grove  of  the  other  horn, 
the  village  of  Kakooa,  with  a  well  and  Morai,  or  sacred 
burying-ground,  close  by.  Between  the  two  villages 
alongshore  ran  a  high  ledge  of  black  coral  rocks.  In 
all  there  were,  perhaps,  four  hundred  houses  in  the 
two  villages,  with  a  population  of  from  two  to  three 
thousand  warriors;  but  the  bay  was  the  rallying  place 
for  the  entire  group  of  islands;  and  the  islands  num- 
bered in  all  several  hundred  thousand  warriors. 

Picture,  then,  the  scene  to  these  wanderers  of  the 
northern  seas :  the  long  coral  reef,  wave-washed  by 
bluest  of  seas;  the  little  village  and  burying-ground 
and  priests'  houses  nestling  under  the  cocoanut  grove 
at  one  end  of  the  semicircular  bay,  the  village  where 
Terreeoboo,  king  of  the  island,  dwelt  on  the  long  sand 
beach  at  the  other  end;  and  swimming  through  the 
water  like  shoals  of  fish,  climbing  over  the  ships'  rig- 
ging like  monkeys,  crowding  the  decks  of  the  Discovery 


198          VIKINGS    OF   THE    PACIFIC 

so  that  the  ship  heeled  over  till  young  chief  Pareea 
began  tossing  the  intruders  by  the  scuff  of  the  neck 
back  into  the  sea  —  hundreds,  thousands,  of  half- 
naked,  tawny-skinned  savages  welcoming  the  white 
men  back  to  the  islands  discovered  by  them.  Chief 
among  the  visitors  to  the  ship  was  Koah,  a  little,  old, 
emaciated,  shifty-eyed  priest  with  a  wry  neck  and  a 
scaly,  leprous  skin,  who  at  once  led  the  small  boats 
ashore,  driving  the  throngs  back  with  a  magic  wand 
and  drawing  a  mystic  circle  with  his  wizard  stick  round 
a  piece  of  ground  near  the  Morai,  or  burying-place, 
where  the  white  men  could  erect  their  tents  beside  the 
cocoanut  groves.  The  magic  line  was  called  a  taboo. 
Past  the  tabooed  line  of  the  magic  wand  not  a  native 
would  dare  to  go.  Here  Captain  King,  assisted  by 
the  young  midshipman,  Vancouver,  landed  with  a 
guard  of  eight  or  ten  mariners  to  overhaul  the  ships' 
masts,  while  the  rest  of  the  two  crews  obtained  provi- 
sions by  trade. 

Cook  was  carried  off  to  the  very  centre  of  the  Morai 
—  a  circular  enclosure  of  solid  stone  with  images  and 
priests'  houses  at  one  end,  the  skulls  of  slain  captives 
at  the  other.  Here  priests  and  people  did  the  white 
explorer  homage  as  to  a  god,  sacrificing  to  him  their 
most  sacred  animal  —  a  strangled  pig. 

All  went  well  for  the  first  few  days.  A  white  gun- 
ner, who  died,  was  buried  within  the  sacred  enclosure 
of  the  Morai.  The  natives  loaded  the  white  men's 
boats  with  provisions.  In  ten  days  the  wan,  gaunt 


CAPTAIN    COOK    IN    AMERICA      199 

sailors  were  so  sleek  and  fat  that  even  the  generous 
entertainers  had  to  laugh  at  the  transformation.  Old 
King  Terreeoboo  came  clothed  in  a  cloak  of  gaudy 
feathers  with  spears  and  daggers  at  his  belt  and  a 
train  of  priestly  retainers  at  his  heels  to  pay  a  visit  of 
state  to  Cook;  and  a  guard  of  mariners  was  drawn  up 
at  arms  under  the  cocoanut  grove  to  receive  the  visitor 
with  fitting  honor.  When  the  king  learned  that  Cook 
was  to  leave  the  bay  early  in  February,  a  royal  proc- 
lamation gathered  presents  for  the  ships;  and  Cook 
responded  by  a  public  display  of  fireworks. 

Now  it  is  a  sad  fact  that  when  a  highly  civilized 
people  meet  an  uncivilized  people,  each  race  celebrates 
the  occasion  by  appropriating  all  the  evil  qualities  of 
the  other.  Vices,  not  virtues,  are  the  first  to  fraternize. 
It  was  as  unfair  of  Cook's  crew  to  judge  the  islanders 
by  the  rabble  swarming  out  to  steal  from  the  ships, 
as  it  would  be  for  a  newcomer  to  judge  the  people 
of  New  York  by  the  pickpockets  and  under-world  of 
the  water  front.  And  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
the  very  quality  that  had  made  Cook  successful  —  the 
quality  to  dare  —  was  a  danger  to  him  here.  The 
natives  did  not  violate  the  sacred  taboo,  which  the 
priest  had  drawn  round  the  white  men's  quarters  of 
the  grove.  It  was  the  white  men  who  violated  it  by 
going  outside  the  limit;  and  the  conduct  of  the  white 
sailors  for  the  sixteen  days  in  port  was  neither  better 
nor  worse  than  the  conduct  of  sailors  to-day  who  go 
on  a  wild  spree  with  the  lowest  elements  of  the  harbor. 


200         VIKINGS    OF    THE    PACIFIC 

The  savages  were  quick  to  find  out  that  the  white 
gods  were  after  all  only  men.  The  true  story  of  what 
happened  could  hardly  be  written  by  Captain  King, 
who  finished  Cook's  journal;  though  one  can  read  be- 
tween the  lines  King's  fear  of  his  commander's  rash- 
ness. The  facts  of  the  case  are  given  by  the  young 
American,  John  Ledyard,  of  Connecticut,  who  was 
corporal  of  marines  and  in  the  very  thick  of  the  fight. 
At  the  end  of  two  weeks  the  white  seamen  were, 
perhaps,  satiated  of  their  own  vices,  or  suffering  from 
the  sore  head  that  results  from  prolonged  spreeing. 
At  all  events  the  thieving,  which  had  been  condoned 
at  first,  was  now  punished  by  soundly  flogging  the 
natives.  The  old  king  courteously  hinted  it  was  time 
for  the  white  men  to  go.  The  mate,  who  was  loading 
masts  and  rudder  back  on  board  the  Resolution,  asked 
the  savages  to  give  him  a  hand.  The  islanders  had 
lost  respect  for  the  white  men  of  such  flagrant  vices. 
They  pretended  to  give  a  helping  hand,  but  only 
jostled  the  mate  about  in  the  crowd.  The  English- 
man lost  his  temper,  struck  out,  and  blustered.  The 
shore  rang  with  the  shrill  laughter  of  the  throngs.  In 
vain  the  chiefs  of  authority  interposed.  The  com- 
mands to  help  the  white  men  were  answered  by  showers 
of  stones  directly  inside  the  taboo.  Ledyard  was 
ordered  out  with  a  guard  of  sailors  to  protect  the  white 
men  loading  the  Resolution.  The  guard  was  pelted 
black  and  blue.  "  There  was  nothing  to  do,"  relates 
Ledyard,  "but  move  to  new  lands  where  our  vices 


CAPTAIN    COOK   IN    AMERICA      201 

were  not  known."  At  last  all  was  in  readiness  to 
sail  —  one  thing  alone  lacking  —  wood;  and  the 
white  men  dare  not  go  inland  for  the  needed  wood. 

So  far  the  entire  blame  rested  on  the  sailors.  Now 
Cook  committed  his  cardinal  error.  With  that  very 
dare  and  quickness  to  utilize  every  available  means  to 
an  end  —  whether  the  end  justified  the  means - 
Cook  ordered  his  men  ashore  to  seize  the  rail  fence 
round  the  top  of  the  stone  burying-ground  —  the 
sacred  Morai  —  as  fuel  for  his  ships.  Out  rushed  the 
priests  from  the  enclosure  in  dire  distress.  Was  this 
their  reward  for  protecting  Cook  with  the  wand  of  the 
sacred  taboo?  Two  hatchets  were  offered  the  leading 
priest  as  pay.  He  spurned  them  as  too  loathsome  to 
be  touched.  Leading  the  way,  Cook  ordered  his  men 
to  break  the  fence  down,  and  proffered  three  hatchets, 
thrusting  them  into  the  folds  of  the  priest's  garment. 
Pale  and  quivering  with  rage,  the  priest  bade  a  slave 
remove  the  profaning  iron.  Down  tumbled  the  fence ! 
Down  the  images  on  poles  !  Down  the  skulls  of  the 
dead  sacred  to  the  savage  as  the  sepulchre  to  the  white 
man !  It  may  be  said  to  the  credit  of  the  crew,  that 
the  men  were  thoroughly  frightened  at  what  they  were 
ordered  to  do;  but  they  were  not  too  frightened  to 
carry  away  the  images  as  relics.  Cook  alone  was 
blind  to  risk.  As  if  to  add  the  last  straw  to  the  Ha- 
waiians'  endurance,  when  the  ships  unmoored  and 
sailed  out  from  the  bay,  where  but  two  weeks  before 
they  had  been  so  royally  welcomed,  they  carried  elop- 


202         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

ing  wives  and  children  from  the  lower  classes  of  the 
two  villages. 

It  was  one  of  the  cases  where  retribution  came  so 
swift  it  was  like  a  living  Nemesis.  If  the  weather  had 
continued  fair,  doubtless  wives  and  children  would 
have  been  dumped  off  at  some  near  harbor,  the  in- 
cident considered  a  joke,  and  the  Englishmen  gone 
merrily  on  their  way;  but  a  violent  gale  arose.  Women 
and  children  were  seized  with  a  seasickness  that  was 
no  joke.  The  decks  resounded  with  such  wails  that 
Cook  had  to  lie  to  in  the  storm,  put  off  the  pinnace, 
and  send  the  visitors  ashore.  What  sort  of  a  tale  they 
carried  back,  we  may  guess.  Meanwhile  the  storm 
had  snapped  the  foremast  of  the  Resolution.  As  if 
rushing  on  his  ruin,  Cook  steered  back  for  the  bay  and 
anchored  midway  between  the  two  villages.  Again 
the  tents  were  pitched  beside  the  Morai  under  the 
cocoanut  groves.  Again  the  wand  was  drawn  round 
the  tenting  place;  but  the  white  men  had  taught  the 
savages  that  the  taboo  was  no  longer  sacred.  Where 
thousands  had  welcomed  the  ships  before,  not  a  soul 
now  appeared.  Not  a  canoe  cut  the  waters.  Not  a 
voice  broke  the  silence  of  the  bay. 

The  sailors  were  sour;  Cook,  angry.  When  the 
men  rowed  to  the  villages  for  fresh  provisions,  they 
were  pelted  with  stones.  When  at  night-time  the 
savages  came  to  the  ships  with  fresh  food,  they  asked 
higher  prices  and  would  take  only  daggers  and  knives 
in  pay.  Only  by  firing  its  great  guns  could  the  Dis- 


CAPTAIN    COOK   IN   AMERICA      203 

covery  prevent  forcible  theft  by  the  savages  offering 
provisions ;  and  in  the  scuffle  of  pursuit  after  one  thief, 
Pareea  —  a  chief  most  friendly  to  the  whites  —  was 
knocked  down  by  a  white  man's  oar.  "I  am  afraid," 
remarked  Cook,  "these  people  will  compel  me  to  use 
violent  measures."  As  if  to  test  the  mettle  of  the 
tacit  threat,  Sunday,  daybreak,  February  14,  revealed 
that  the  large  rowboat  of  the  Discovery  had  been 
stolen. 

When  Captain  King,  who  had  charge  of  the  guard 
repairing  the  masts  over  under  the  cocoanut  grove 
came  on  board  Sunday  morning,  he  found  Cook  load- 
ing his  gun,  with  a  line  of  soldiers  drawn  up  to  go  ashore 
in  order  to  allure  the  ruler  of  the  islands  on  board,  and 
hold  him  as  hostage  for  the  restitution  of  the  lost  boat. 
Clerke,  of  the  Discovery,  was  too  far  gone  in  consump- 
tion to  take  any  part.  Cook  led  the  way  on  the  pin- 
nace with  Ledyard  and  six  marines.  Captain  King 
followed  in  the  launch  with  as  many  more.  All  the 
other  small  boats  of  the  two  ships  were  strung  across 
the  harbor  from  Kakooa,  where  the  grove  was,  to 

7  O  ' 

Kowrowa,  where  the  king  dwelt,  with  orders  to  fire 
on  any  canoe  trying  to  escape. 

Before  the  fearless  leader,  the  savages  prostrated 
themselves  in  the  streets.  Cook  strode  like  a  con- 
queror straight  to  the  door  of  the  king's  abode.  It 
was  about  nine  in  the  morning.  Old  Terreeoboo  — 
peace  lover  and  lazy  —  was  just  awake  and  only  too 
willing  to  go  aboard  with  Cook  as  the  easiest  way  out 


204         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

of  the  trouble  about  the  stolen  boat.  But  just  here 
the  high-handedness  of  Cook  frustrated  itself.  That 
line  of  small  boats  stretched  across  the  harbor  began 
firing  at  an  escaping  canoe.  A  favorite  chief  was 
killed.  Word  of  the  killing  came  as  the  old  king  was 
at  the  water's  edge  to  follow  Cook;  and  a  wife  caught 
him  by  the  arm  to  drag  him  back.  Suddenly  a  throng 
of  a  thousand  surrounded  the  white  men.  Some  one 
stabs  at  Phillips  of  the  marines.  Phillips's  musket 
comes  down  butt-end  on  the  head  of  the  assailant.  A 
spear  is  thrust  in  Cook's  very  face.  He  fires  blank 
shot.  The  harmlessness  of  the  shot  only  emboldens 
the  savages.  Women  are  seen  hurrying  off  to  the 
hills;  men  don  their  war  mats.  There  is  a  rush  of  the 
white  men  to  get  positions  along  the  water  edge  free 
for  striking  room ;  of  the  savages  to  prevent  the  whites' 
escape.  A  stone  hits  Cook.  "WThat  man  did  that?" 
thunders  Cook;  and  he  shoots  the  culprit  dead.  Then 
the  men  in  the  boats  lose  their  heads,  and  are  pouring 
volleys  of  musketry  into  the  crowds. 

"It  is  hopeless,"  mutters  Cook  to  Phillips;  but 
amid  a  shower  of  stones  above  the  whooping  of  the 
savages,  he  turns  with  his  back  to  the  crowd,  and 
shouts  for  the  two  small  boats  to  cease  firing  and  pull 
in  for  the  marines.  His  caution  came  too  late. 

His  back  is  to  his  assailants.     An  arm  reached  out 

-  a  hand  with  a  dagger;   and  the  dagger  rips  quick  as 

a  flash  under  Cook's  shoulder-blade.     He  fell  without 

a  groan,  face  in  the  water,  and  was  hacked  to  pieces 


CAPTAIN    COOK    IN   AMERICA      205 

before  the  eyes  of  his  men.  Four  marines  had  al- 
ready fallen.  Phillips  and  Ledyard  and  the  rest 
jumped  into  the  sea  and  swam  for  their  lives.  The 
small  boats  were  twenty  yards  out.  Scarcely  was 
Phillips  in  the  nearest,  when  a  wounded  sailor,  swim- 
ming for  refuge,  fainted  and  sank  to  the  bottom. 


The  Death  of  Cook. 

Though  half  stunned  from  a  stone  blow  on  his  head 
and  bleeding  from  a  stab  in  the  back,  Phillips  leaped 
to  the  rescue,  dived  to  bottom,  caught  the  exhausted 
sailor  by  the  hair  of  the  head  and  so  snatched  him  into 
the  boat.  The  dead  and  the  arms  of  the  fugitives  had 
been  deserted  in  the  wild  scramble  for  life. 

Meanwhile  the  masts  of  the  Resolution,  guarded  by 


206          VIKINGS    OF   THE    PACIFIC 

only  six  marines,  were  exposed  to  the  warriors  of  the 
other  village  at  the  cocoanut  grove.  Protected  by  the 
guns  of  the  two  ships  under  the  direction  of  Clerke, 
who  now  became  commander,  masts  and  men  were 
got  aboard  by  noon.  At  four  that  afternoon,  Cap- 
tain King  rowed  toward  shore  for  Cook's  body.  He 
was  met  by  the  little  leprous  priest  Koah,  swimming 
halfway  out.  Though  tears  of  sorrow  were  in  Koah's 
treacherous  red-rimmed  eyes  as  he  begged  that  Clerke 
and  King  might  come  ashore  to  parley,  King  judged 
it  prudent  to  hold  tightly  on  the  priest's  spear  handle 
while  the  two  embraced. 

Night  after  night  for  a  week,  the  conch-shells  blew 
their  challenge  of  defiance  to  the  white  men.  Fires 
rallying  to  war  danced  on  the  hillsides.  Howls  and 
shouts  of  derision  echoed  from  the  shore.  The  stealthy 
paddle  of  treacherous  spies  could  be  heard  through 
the  dark  under  the  keel  of  the  white  men's  ships. 
Cook's  clothing,  sword,  hat,  were  waved  in  scorn  under 
the  sailors'  faces.  The  women  had  hurried  to  the  hills. 
The  old  king  was  hidden  in  a  cave,  where  he  could 
be  reached  only  by  a  rope  ladder;  and  emissary  after 
emissary  tried  to  lure  the  whites  ashore.  One  pitch- 
dark  night,  paddles  were  heard  under  the  keels.  The 
sentinels  fired ;  but  by  lantern  light  two  terrified  faces 
appeared  above  the  rail  of  the  Resolution.  Two 
frightened,  trembling  savages  crawled  over  the  deck, 
prostrated  themselves  at  Clerke's  feet,  and  slowly  un- 
rolled a  small  wrapping  of  cloth  that  revealed  a  small 


CAPTAIN    COOK    IN   AMERICA      207 

piece  of  human  flesh  —  the  remains  of  Cook.  Dead 
silence  fell  on  the  horrified  crew.  Then  Clerke's 
stern  answer  was  that  unless  the  bones  of  Cook  were 
brought  to  the  ships,  both  native  villages  would  be 
destroyed.  The  two  savages  were  former  friends  of 
Cook's  and  warned  the  whites  not  to  be  allured  on 
land,  nor  to  trust  Koah,  the  leper  priest,  on  the  ships. 
Again  the  conch-shells  blew  their  challenge  all 
night  through  the  darkness.  Again  the  war  fires 
danced;  but  next  morning  the  guns  of  the  Discovery 
were  trained  on  Koah,  when  he  tried  to  come  on  board. 
That  day  sailors  were  landed  for  water  and  set  fire  to 
the  village  of  the  cocoanut  groves  to  drive  assailants 
back.  How  quickly  human  nature  may  revert  to  the 
beast  type  !  When  the  white  sailors  returned  from  this 
skirmish,  they  carried  back  to  the  ships  with  them,  the 
heads  of  two  Hawaiians  they  had  slain.  By  Saturday, 
the  aoth,  masts  were  in  place  and  the  boats  ready  to 
sail.  Between  ten  and  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
a  long  procession  of  people  was  seen  filing  slowly 
down  the  hills  preceded  by  drummers  and  a  white 
flag.  Word  was  signalled  that  Cook's  bones  were  on 
shore  to  be  delivered.  Clerke  put  out  in  a  small  boat 
to  receive  the  dead  commander's  remains  —  from  which 
all  flesh  had  been  burned.  On  Sunday,  the  2ist,  the 
entire  bay  was  tabooed.  Not  a  native  came  out  of  the 
houses.  Silence  lay  over  the  waters.  The  funeral 
service  was  read  on  board  the  Resolution,  and  the 
coffin  committed  to  the  deep. 


208          VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

A  curious  reception  awaited  the  ships  at  Avacha 
Bay,  Kamchatka,  whence  they  now  sailed.  Ismy- 
loff's  letter  commending  the  explorers  to  the  governor 
of  Avacha  Bay  brought  thirty  Cossack  soldiers  floun- 
dering through  the  shore  ice  of  Petropaulovsk  under 
the  protection  of  pointed  cannon.  IsmylofF,  with  fur 
trader's  jealousy  of  intrusion,  had  warned  the  Russian 
commander  that  the  English  ships  were  pirates  like 
Benyowsky,  the  Polish  exile,  who  had  lately  sacked  the 
garrisons  of  Kamchatka,  stolen  the  ships,  and  sailed  to 
America.  However,  when  Cook's  letters  were  carried 
overland  to  Bolcheresk,  to  Major  Behm,  the  com- 
mander, all  went  well.  The  little  log-thatched  fort 
with  its  windows  of  talc  opened  wide  doors  to  the  far- 
travelled  English.  The  Russian  ladies  of  the  fort 
donned  their  China  silks.  The  samovars  were  set 
singing.  English  sailors  gave  presents  of  their  grog 
to  the  Russians.  Russian  Cossacks  presented  their 
tobacco  to  the  English,  adding  three  such  cheers  as 
only  Cossacks  can  give  and  a  farewell  song. 

In  1779  Clerke  made  one  more  attempt  to  pass 
through  the  northern  ice-fields  from  Pacific  to  Atlantic ; 
but  he  accomplished  nothing  but  to  go  over  the  ground 
explored  the  year  before  under  Cook.  On  the  5th  of 
July  at  ten  P.M.  in  the  lingering  sunlight  of  northern 
latitudes,  just  as  the  boats  were  halfway  through  the 
Straits  of  Bering,  the  fog  lifted,  and  for  the  first  time 
in  history  —  as  far  as  known  —  the  westernmost  part 
of  America,  Cape  Prince  of  Wales,  and  the  eastern- 


CAPTAIN    COOK    IN   AMERICA      209 

most  part  of  Asia,  East  Cape,  were  simultaneously 
seen  by  white  men. 

Finding  it  impossible  to  advance  eastward,  Clerke 
decided  there  was  no  Northeast  Passage  by  way  of 
the  Pacific  to  the  Atlantic;  and  on  the  2ist  of  July, 
to  the  cheers  of  his  sailors,  announced  that  the  ships 
would  turn  back  for  England.1 

Poor  Clerke  died  of  consumption  on  the  way,  August 
22,  1779,  only  thirty-eight  years  of  age,  and  was  buried 
at  Petropaulovsk  beside  La  Croyere  de  1'Isle,  who 
perished  on  the  Bering  expedition.  The  boats  did  not 
reach  England  till  October  of  1780.  They  had  not 
won  the  reward  of  twenty  thousand  pounds ;  but  they 
had  charted  a  strange  coast  for  a  distance  of  three 
thousand  five  hundred  miles,  and  paved  the  way  for 
the  vast  commerce  that  now  plies  between  Occident 
and  Orient.2 

1  The  authority  for  Cook's  adventures  is,  of  course,  his  own  journal,  Voyage  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  London,    1784.,   supplemented  by  the  letters  and  journals   of  men  who 
were  with  him,  like  Ledyard,  Vancouver,  Portlock,  and  Dixon,  and  others. 

2  In  reiterating  the  impossibility  of  finding  a  passage  from  ocean  to  ocean,  either 
northeast  or   northwest,  no  disparagement  is  cast  on  such  feats  as  that  of  Nordenskjold 
along  the  north  of  Asia,  in  the  Vega  in  1882. 

By  "  passage  "  is  meant  a  waterway  practicable  for  ocean  vessels,  not  for  the  ocean 
freak  of  a  specially  constructed  Arctic  vessel  that  dodges  for  a  year  or  more  among  the 
ice-floes  in  an  endeavor  to  pass  from  Atlantic  to  Pacific,  or  vice  -versa. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

1785-1792 

ROBERT   GRAY,  THE   AMERICAN   DISCOVERER   OF 
THE   COLUMBIA 

Boston  Merchants,  inspired  by  Cook's  Voyages,  outfit  two  Vessels 
under  Kendrick  and  Gray  for  Discovery  and  Trade  on  the  Pacific 
—  Adventures  of  the  First  Ship  to  carry  the  American  Flag  around 
the  World  —  Gray  attacked  by  Indians  at  Tillamook  Bay  —  His 
Discovery  of  the  Columbia  River  on  the  Second  Voyage  —  Fort 
Defence  and  the  First  American  Ship  built  on  the  Pacific 

IT  is  an  odd  thing  that  wherever  French  or  British 
fur  traders  went  to  a  new  territory,  they  found  the 
Indians  referred  to  American  traders,  not  as  "Ameri- 
cans," but  "Bostons"  or  " Bostonnais."  The  reason 
was  plain.  Boston  merchants  won  a  reputation  as 
first  to  act.  It  was  they  who  began  a  certain  memo- 
rable "Boston  Tea  Party";  and  before  the  rest  of  the 
world  had  recovered  the  shock  of  that  event,  these 
same  merchants  were  planning  to  capture  the  trade  of 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  get  possession  of  all  the  Pacific 
coast  not  already  preempted  by  Spain,  Russia,  or 
England,  and  push  American  commerce  across  the 
Pacific  to  Asia. 

210 


ROBERT   GRAY  211 

What  with  slow  printing-presses  and  slow  travel,  the 
account  of  Cook's  voyages  on  the  Pacific  did  not  be- 
come generally  known  in  the  United  States  till  1785  or 

1786.  Sitting    round    the    library    of   Dr.    Bulfinch's 
residence  on  Bowdoin  Square  in  Boston  one  night  in 

1787,  were  half  a  dozen  adventurous  spirits  for  whom 
Cook's  account  of  the  fur  trade  on  the  Pacific  had  an 
irresistible    fascination.     There  was   the    doctor    him- 
self.    There  was   his   son,   Charles,   of  Harvard,  just 
back  from  Europe  and  destined  to  become  famous  as 
an  architect.     There  was  Joseph  Barrell,  a  prosperous 
merchant.     There  was   John   Derby,  a   shipmaster  of 
Salem,  a  young  man  still,  but  who,  nevertheless,  had 
carried     news    of    Lexington    to     England.     Captain 
Crowell  Hatch  of  Cambridge,  Samuel  Brown,  a  trader 
of  Boston,  and  John  Marden  Pintard  of  the  New  York 
firm  of  Lewis  Pintard  Company  were  also  of  the  little 
coterie. 

If  Captain  Cook's  crew  had  sold  one-third  of  a 
water-rotted  cargo  of  otter  furs  in  China  for  ten  thou- 
sand dollars,  why,  these  Boston  men  asked  them- 
selves, could  not  ships  fitted  expressly  for  the  fur 
trade  capture  a  fortune  in  trade  on  that  unoccupied 
strip  of  coast  between  Russian  Alaska,  on  the  north, 
and  New  Spain,  on  the  south  ? 

"There  is  a  rich  harvest  to  be  reaped  by  those  who 
are  on  the  ground  first  out  there,"  remarked  Joseph 
Barrell. 

Then  the  thing  was  to   be  on  the  ground  first  — 


212 


VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 


that  was  the  unanimous  decision  of  the  shrewd-headed 
men  gathered  in  BulHnch's  study. 

The   sequence  was  that  Charles    Bulfinch   and   the 
other  five  at  once  formed  a  partnership  with  a  capital 


Charles  Bulfinch. 

of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  divided  into  fourteen  shares, 
for  trade  on  the  Pacific.  This  was  ten  years  before 
Lewis  and  Clark  reached  the  Columbia,  almost  twenty 
years  before  Astor  had  thought  of  his  Pacific  Company. 
The  Columbia,  a  full-rigged  two-decker,  two  hundred 
and  twelve  tons  and  eighty-three  feet  long,  mounting 


ROBERT    GRAY  213 

ten  guns,  which  had  been  built  fourteen  years  before 
on  Hobart's  Landing,  North  River,  was  immediately 
purchased.  But  a  smaller  ship  to  cruise  about  in- 
land waters  and  collect  furs  was  also  needed;  and  for 
this  purpose  the  partners  bought  the  Lady  Washing- 
ton, a  little  sloop  of  ninety  tons.  Captain  John  Ken- 
drick  of  the  merchant  marine  was  chosen  to  command 
the  Columbia,  Robert  Gray,  a  native  of  Rhode  Island, 
who  had  served  in  the  revolutionary  navy,  a  friend  of 
Kendrick's,  to  be  master  of  the  Lady  Washington, 
Kendrick  was  of  middle  age,  cautious  almost  to  in- 
decision ;  but  Gray  was  younger  with  the  daring  char- 
acteristic of  youth. 

In  order  to  insure  a  good  reception  for  the  ships, 
letters  were  obtained  from  the  federal  government  to 
foreign  powers.  Massachusetts  furnished  passports; 
and  the  Spanish  minister  to  the  United  States  gave 
letters  to  the  viceroy  of  New  Spain.  Just  how  the  in- 
formation of  Boston  plans  to  intrude  on  the  Pacific 
coast  was  received  by  New  Spain  may  be  judged  by 
the  confidential  commands  at  once  issued  from  Santa 
Barbara  to  the  Spanish  officer  at  San  Francisco: 
"Whenever  there  may  arrive  at  the  Port  of  S an _ Fran- 
cisco, a  ship  named  the  Columbia  said  to  belong  to 
General  Wanghington  (Washington)  of  the  American 
States,  under  command  of  John  Kendrick  which  sailed 
from  Boston  in  September  1787  bound  on  a  voyage  of 
Discovery  and  of  Examination  of  the  Russian  Estab- 
lishments on  the  Northern  Coast  of  this  Peninsula,  you 


214         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

will  cause  said  vessel  to  be  secured  together  with  her 
officers  and  crew." 

Orders  were  also  given  Kendrick  and  Gray  to  avoid 
offence  to  any  foreign  power,  to  treat  the  natives  with 
kindness  and  Christianity,  to  obtain  a  cargo  of  furs  on 
the  American  coast,  to  proceed  with  the  same  to  China 
to  be  exchanged  for  a  cargo  of  tea,  and  to  return  to 
Boston  with  the  tea.  The  holds  of  the  vessels  were 
then  stowed  with  every  trinket  that  could  appeal  to 
the  savage  heart,  beads,  brass  buttons,  ear-rings, 
calico,  tin  mirrors,  blankets,  hunting-knives,  copper 
kettles,  iron  chisels,  snuff,  tobacco.  The  crews  were 
made  up  of  the  very  best  class  of  self-respecting  sea- 
faring men.  Woodruff,  Kendrick's  first  mate,  had  been 
with  Cook.  Joseph  Ingraham,  the  second  mate,  rose 
to  become  a  captain.  Robert  Haswell,  the  third  mate, 
was  the  son  of  a  British  naval  officer.  Richard  Howe 
went  as  accountant ;  Dr.  Roberts,  as  surgeon ;  Nutting, 
formerly  a  teacher,  as  astronomer;  and  Treat,  as  fur 
trader.  Davis  Coolidge  was  the  first  mate  under  Gray 
on  the  Lady  Washington. 

Some  heroes  blunder  into  glory.  These  didn't 
They  deliberately  set  out  with  the  full  glory  of  their 
venture  in  view.  Whatever  the  profit  and  loss  account 
might  show  when  they  came  back,  they  were  well 
aware  that  they  were  attempting  the  very  biggest  and 
most  venturesome  thing  the  newly  federated  states  had 
essayed  in  the  way  of  exploration  and  trade.  To 


ROBERT   GRAY 


215 


commemorate  the  event,  Joseph  Barrell  had  medals 
struck  in  bronze  and  silver,  showing  the  two  vessels  on 
one  side,  the  names  of  the  outfitters  on  the  other.  All 
Saturday  afternoon  sailors  and  officers  came  trundling 
down  to  the  wharf,  carpet  bags  and  seamen's  chests  in 
tow,  to  be  rowed  out  where  the  Columbia  and  Lady 
Washington  lay  at  anchor.  Boston  was  a  Sabbath- 
observing  city  in  those  days;  but  even  Boston  could 
not  keep  away  from  the  two  ships  heaving  to  the  tide? 


Prtl     J-DAUBYjOHATCH 
JM'PlNTARD 


which  for  the  first  time  in  American  history  were  to 
sail  around  an  unknown  world.  All  Saturday  night 
and  Sunday  morning  the  sailors  scoured  the  decks 
and  put  berths  shipshape;  and  all  Sunday  afternoon 
the  visitors  thronged  the  decks.  By  night  outfitters 
and  relatives  were  still  on  board.  The  medals  of 
commemoration  were  handed  round.  Health  and 
good  luck  and  God-speed  were  drained  to  the  heel 
taps.  Songs  resounded  over  the  festive  board.  It 
was  all  "mirth  and  glee"  writes  one  of  the  men  on 


216         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

board.  But  by  daybreak  the  ships  had  slipped 
cables.  The  tide,  that  runs  from  round  the  under- 
world, raced  bounding  to  meet  them.  A  last  dip  of 
land  behind;  and  on  Monday,  October  I,  1787,  the 
ships'  prows  were  cleaving  the  waters  of  their  fate. 

The  course  lay  from  Boston  to  Cape  Verde  Islands, 
from  Verde  Islands  to  the  Falklands  north  of  Cape 
Horn,  round  Cape  Horn,  up  the  west  coast  of  South 
America,  touching  at  Masafuera  and  Juan  Fernan- 
dez, and  thence,  without  pause,  to  the  west  coast 
of  North  America.  At  Cape  Verde,  Gray  hired  a 
valet,  a  colored  boy,  Marcus  Lopez,  destined  to  play 
an  important  part  later.  Crossing  the  equator,  the 
sailors  became  hilarious,  playing  the  usual  pranks  of 
ducking  the  men  fresh  to  equatorial  waters.  So  long 
did  the  ships  rest  at  the  Verde  Islands,  taking  in  fresh 
provisions,  that  it  was  January  before  the  Falkland 
Islands  were  reached.  Here  Kendrick's  caution  be- 
came almost  fear.  He  was  averse  to  rounding  the 
stormy  Horn  in  winter.  Roberts,  the  surgeon,  and 
Woodruff,  who  had  been  with  Cook,  had  become  dis- 
gusted with  Kendrick's  indecision  at  Cape  Verde,  and 
left,  presumably  taking  passage  back  on  some  foreign 
cruiser.  Haswell,  then,  went  over  as  first  mate  to 
Gray.  Mountain  seas  and  smashing  gales  assailed  the 
ships  from  the  time  they  headed  for  the  Horn  in  April 
of  1788.  The  Columbia  was  tossed  clear  up  on  her 
beam  ends,  and  sea  after  sea  crashed  over  the  little 


ROBERT    GRAY  217 

Lady  Washington,  drenching  everything  below  decks 
like  soap-suds  in  a  rickety  tub.  Then  came  a  hurri- 
cane of  cold  winds  coating  the  ship  in  ice  like  glass, 
till  the  yard-arms  looked  like  ghosts.  Between  scurvy 
and  cold,  there  was  not  a  sailor  fit  to  man  the 
decks.  Somewhere  down  at  57°  south,  westward  of 
the  Horn,  the  smashing  seas  and  driving  winds 
separated  the  two  ships;  but  as  they  headed  north, 
bright  skies  and  warm  winds  welcomed  them  to  the 

O 

Pacific.  At  Masafuera,  ofF  Chile,  the  ships  would 
have  landed  for  fresh  water;  but  a  tremendous  back- 
wash of  surf  forewarned  reefs;  and  the  Lady  Wash- 
ington stretched  her  sails  for  the  welcome  warm  winds, 
and  tacked  with  all  speed  to  the  north.  A  few  weeks 
later,  Kendrick  was  compelled  to  put  in  for  Juan 
Fernandez  to  repair  the  Columbia  and  rest  his  scurvy- 
stricken  crew.  They  were  given  all  aid  by  the  governor 
of  the  island,  who  was  afterward  reprimanded  by  the 
viceroy  of  Chile  and  degraded  from  office  for  helping 
these  invaders  of  the  South  Seas. 

Meantime  the  little  sloop,  guided  by  the  masterful 
and  enthusiastic  Gray,  showed  her  heels  to  the  sea. 
Soon  a  world  of  deep-sea,  tropical  wonders  was  about 
the  American  adventurers.  The  slime  of  medusa 
lights  lined  the  long  foam  trail  of  the  Lady  Washington 
each  night.  Dolphins  raced  the  ship,  herd  upon  herd, 
their  silver-white  bodies  aglisten  in  the  sun.  Schools  of 
spermaceti-whales  to  the  number  of  twenty  at  a  time 
gambolled  lazily  around  the  prow.  Stormy  petrelss 


218          VIKINGS   OF    THE    PACIFIC 

flying-fish,  sea-lions,  began  to  be  seen  as  the  boat  passed 
north  of  the  seas  bordering  New  Spain.  Gentle  winds 
and  clear  sunlight  favored  the  ship  all  June.  The 
long,  hard  voyage  began  to  be  a  summer  holiday  on 
warm,  silver  seas.  The  Lady  Washington  headed  in- 
land, or  where  land  should  be,  where  Francis  Drake 
two  centuries  before  had  reported  that  he  had  found 
New  Albion.  On  August  2,  somewhere  near  what  is 
now  Cape  Mendocino,  daylight  revealed  a  rim  of  green 
forested  hills  above  the  silver  sea.  It  was  New  Albion, 
north  of  New  Spain,  the  strip  of  coast  they  had  come 
round  the  world  to  find.  Birds  in  myriads  on  myriads 
screamed  the  joy  that  the  crew  felt  over  their  find; 
but  a  frothy  ripple  told  of  reefs;  and  the  Lady  Wash- 
ington coasted  parallel  with  the  shore-line  northward. 
On  August  4,  while  the  surf  still  broke  with  too  great 
violence  for  a  landing,  a  tiny  speck  was  seen  dancing 
over  the  waves  like  a  bird.  As  the  distance  lessened, 
the  speck  grew  and  resolved  itself  to  a  dugout,  or  long 
canoe,  carved  with  bizarre  design  stem  and  stern, 
painted  gayly  on  the  keel,  carrying  ten  Indians,  who 
blew  birds'  down  of  friendship  in  midair,  threw  open 
their  arms  without  weapons,  and  made  every  sign  of 
friendship.  Captain  Gray  tossed  them  presents  over 
the  deck  rail;  but  the  whistle  of  a  gale  through  the 
riggings  warned  to  keep  off  the  rock  shore;  and  the 
sloop's  prow  cut  waves  for  the  offing.  All  night 
camp-fires  and  columns  of  smoke  could  be  seen  on 
shore,  showing  that  the  coast  was  inhabited.  Under 


ROBERT   GRAY 

clouds  of  sail,  the  sloop  beat  north  for  ten  days,  passing 
many  savages,  some  of  whom  held  up  sea-otter  to 
trade,  others  running  along  the  shore  brandishing 
their  spears  and  shouting  their  war-cry.  Two  or  three 
at  a  time  were  admitted  on  board  to  trade;  but  they 
evinced  such  treacherous  distrust,  holding  knives  ready 
to  strike  in  their  right  hand,  that  Gray  was  cautious. 
During  the  adverse  wind  they  had  passed  one  open- 
ing on  the  coast  that  resembled  the  entrance  to  a  river. 
Was  this  the  fabled  river  of  the  West,  that  Indians  said 
ran  to  the  setting  sun  ?  Away  up  in  the  Athabasca 
Country  of  Canadian  wilds  was  another  man,  Alex- 
ander Mackenzie,  setting  to  himself  that  same  task  of 
finding  the  great  river  of  the  West.  Besides,  in  1775, 
Heceta,  the  Spanish  navigator  from  Monterey,  had 
drifted  close  to  this  coast  with  a  crew  so  stricken  with 
scurvy  not  a  man  could  hoist  anchor  or  reef  sails. 
Heceta  thought  he  saw  the  entrance  to  a  river;  but 
was  unable  to  come  within  twenty  miles  of  the  opening 
to  verify  his  supposition.  And  now  Gray's  crew  were 
on  the  watch  for  that  supposed  river;  but  more  mun- 
dane things  than  glory  had  become  pressing  needs. 
Water  was  needed  for  drinking.  'The  ship  was  out  of 
firewood.  The  live  stock  must  have  hay;  and  in  the 
crew  of  twelve,  three-quarters  were  ill  of  the  scurvy. 
These  men  must  be  taken  ashore.  Somewhere  near 
what  is  now  Cape  Lookout,  or  Tillamook  Bay,  the 
rowboat  was  launched  to  sound,  safe  anchorage 
found,  and  the  Lady  Washington  towed  in  harbor. 


220         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

The  Lady  Washington  had  anchored  about  half  a 
mile  from  shore,  but  the  curiously  carved  canoes  came 
dancing  over  the  waves  in  myriads.  Gray  noticed 
the  natives  were  all  armed  with  spears  and  knives,  but 
they  evinced  great  friendliness,  bringing  the  crew  bas- 
kets of  berries  and  boiled  crabs  and  salmon,  in  ex- 
change for  brass  buttons.  They  had  anchored  at 
ten  on  the  night  of  August  14,  and  by  the  afternoon 
of  the  1 5th  the  Indians  were  about  the  sloop  in  great 
numbers,  trading  otter  skins  for  knives,  axes,  and 
other  arms  —  which,  in  itself,  ought  to  have  put  the 
crew  on  guard.  When  the  white  men  went  ashore 
for  wood  and  water,  the  Indians  stood  silently  by, 
weapons  in  hand,  but  offered  no  hostility.  On  the 
third  day  in  harbor  an  old  chief  came  on  board  fol- 
lowed by  a  great  number  of  warriors,  all  armed.  Gray 
kept  careful  guard,  and  the  old  Indian  departed  in 
possession  of  the  stimulating  fact  that  only  a  dozen 
hands  manned  the  Lady  Washington.  Waiting  for 
the  tide  the  next  afternoon,  Haswell  and  Coolidge,  the 
two  mates,  were  digging  clams  on  shore.  Lopez,  the 
black  man,  and  seven  of  the  crew  were  gathering  grass 
for  the  stock.  Only  three  men  remained  on  the  sloop 
with  Captain  Gray.  Only  two  muskets  and  three  or 
four  cutlasses  had  been  brought  ashore.  Haswell  and 
Coolidge  had  their  belt  pistols  and  swords.  The  two 
mates  approached  the  native  village.  The  Indians 
began  tossing  spears,  as  Haswell  thought,  to  amuse 
their  visitors.  That  failing  to  inspire  these  white  men, 


ROBERT    GRAY  221 

rash  as  children,  with  fear,  the  Indians  formed  a  ring, 
clubbed  down  their  weapons  in  pantomime,  and  exe- 
cuted all  the  significant  passes  of  the  famous  war-dance. 
"It  chilled  my  veins,"  says  Haswell;  and  the  two 
mates  had  gone  back  to  their  clam  digging,  when  there 
was  a  loud,  angry  shout.  Glancing  just  where  the 
rowboat  lay  rocking  abreast  the  hay  cutters,  Haswell 
saw  an  Indian  snatch  at  the  cutlass  of  Lopez,  the  black, 
who  had  carelessly  stuck  it  in  the  sand.  With  a  wild 
halloo,  the  thief  dashed  for  the  woods,  the  black  in 
pursuit,  mad  as  a  hornet. 

Haswell  went  straight  to  the  chief  and  offered  a 
reward  for  the  return  of  the  sword,  or  the  black  man. 
The  old  chief  taciturnly  signalled  for  Haswell  to  do 
his  own  rescuing. 

Theft  and  flight  had  both  been  part  of  a  design  to 
scatter  the  white  men.  "They  see  we  are  ill  armed," 
remarked  Haswell  to  the  other.  Bidding  the  boat  row 
abreast  with  six  of  the  hay  cutters,  the  two  mates  and 
a  third  man  ran  along  the  beach  in  the  direction  Lopez 
had  disappeared.  A  sudden  turn  into  a  grove  of  trees 
showed  Lopez  squirming  mid  a  group  of  Indians, 
holding  the  thief  by  the  neck  and  shouting  for  "help  ! 
help!"  No  sooner  had  the  three  whites  come  on  the 
scene,  than  the  Indians  plunged  their  knives  in  the 
boy's  back.  He  stumbled,  rose,  staggered  forward, 
then  fell  pierced  by  a  flight  of  barbed  arrows.  Has- 
well had  only  time  to  see  the  hostiles  fall  on  his  body 
like  a  pack  of  wolves  on  prey,  when  more  Indians 


222         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

emerged  from  the  rear,  and  the  .lites  were  between 
two  war  parties  under  a  shower  of  spears.  A  wild 
dash  was  made  to  head  the  fugitives  off  from  shore. 
Haswell  and  Coolidge  turned,  pistols  in  hand,  while  the 
rowboat  drew  in.  Another  flignt  of  arrows,  when 
the  mates  let  go  a  charge  of  pistol  shot  that  dropped 
the  foremost  three  Indians.  Shouting  for  the  rowers 
to  fire,  Haswell,  Coolidge,  and  the  sailor  plunged  into 
the  water.  To  make  matters  worse,  the  sailor  fainted 
from  loss  of  blood,  and  the  pursuers  threw  themselves 
into  the  water  with  a  whoop.  Hauling  the  wounded 
man  in  the  boat,  the  whites  rowed  for  dear  life.  The 
Indians  then  launched  their  canoes  to  pursue,  but  by 
this  time  Gray  had  the  cannon  of  the  Lady  Washing- 
ton trained  ashore,  and  three  shots  drove  the  hostiles 
scampering.  For  two  days  tide  and  wind  and  a  thun- 
dering surf  imprisoned  Gray  in  Murderers'  Harbor, 
where  he  had  hoped  to  find  the  River  of  the  West, 
but  met  only  danger.  All  night  the  savages  kept  up 
their  howling;  but  on  the  third  day  the  wind  veered. 
All  sails  set,  the  sloop  scudded  for  the  offing,  glad  to 
keep  some  distance  between  herself  and  such  a  danger- 
ous coast. 

The  advantage  of  a  small  boat  now  became  apparent. 
In  the  same  quarter,  Cook  was  compelled  to  keep  out 
from  the  coast,  and  so  reported  there  were  no  Straits 
of  Fuca.  By  August  21  the  sloop  was  again  close 
enough  to  the  rocky  shore  to  sight  the  snowy,  opal 


•o. 

£  O 
bo 

2    o 
o   ^ 

^  c 

d.     rt 


o    o 


cc 


ROBERT   GRAY  223 

ranges  of  the  Olympus  Mountains.  By  August  26 
they  had  passed  the  wave-lashed  rocks  of  Cape  Flat- 
tery, and  the  mate  records :  "  I  am  of  opinion  that 
the  Straits  of  Fuca  exist;  for  in  the  very  latitude  they 
are  said  to  lie,  the  coast  takes  a  bend,  probably  the 
entrance." 

By  September,  after  frequent  stops  to  trade  with  the 
Indians,  they  were  well  abreast  of  Nootka,  where  Cook 
had  been  ten  years  before.  A  terrible  ground-swell  of 
surf  and  back-wash  raged  over  projecting  reefs.  The 
Indians,  here,  knew  English  words  enough  to  tell 
Gray  that  Nootka  lay  farther  east,  and  that  a  Captain 
Meares  was  there  with  two  vessels.  A  strange  sail 
appeared  inside  the  harbor.  Gray  thought  it  was  the 
belated  Columbia  under  Kendrick ;  but  a  rowboat 
came  out  bearing  Captain  Meares  himself,  who  break- 
fasted with  the  Americans  on  September  17,  and  had 
his  long-boats  tow  the  Lady  Washington  inside  Nootka, 
where  Gray  was  surprised  to  see  two  English  snows 
under  Portuguese  colors,  with  a  cannon-mounted  gar- 
rison on  shore,  and  a  schooner  of  thirty  tons,  the  North- 
west-America, all  ready  to  be  launched.  This  was 
the  first  ship  built  on  the  northwest  coast.  Gray 
himself  later  built  the  second.  Amid  salvos  of  cannon 
from  the  Lady  Washington,  the  new  fur  vessel  was 
launched  from  her  skids;  and  in  her  honor  Septem- 
ber 19  was  observed  as  a  holiday,  Meares  and 
Douglas,  the  two  English  captains,  entertaining  Gray 
and  his  officers.  Meares  had  come  from  China  in 


224         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

January,  and  during  the  summer  had  been  up  the 
Straits  of  Fuca,  where  another  English  captain,  Bar- 
clay, had  preceded  him.  Then  Meares  had  gone 
south  past  Flattery,  seeking  in  vain  for  the  River  of 
the  West.  Gales  and  breakers  had  driven  him  off 
the  coast,  and  the  very  headland  which  hid  the  mouth 
of  the  Columbia,  he  had  named  Cape  Disappointment, 
because  he  was  so  sure  —  in  his  own  words-  "that 
the  river  on  the  Spanish  charts  did  not  exist."  He 
had  also  been  down  the  coast  to  that  Tillamook,  or 
Cape  Meares,  where  Gray's  valet  had  been  murdered. 
This  was  in  July,  a  month  before  the  assault  on  Gray; 
and  if  Haswell's  report  of  Meares's  cruelty  be  accepted 
-  taking  furs  by  force  of  arms  —  that  may  have  ex- 
plained the  hostility  to  the  Americans.  Meares  was 
short  of  provisions  to  go  to  China,  and  Gray  supplied 
them.  In  return  Meares  set  his  workmen  to  help 
clean  the  keel  of  the  Lady  Washington  from  barnacles; 
but  the  Englishman  was  a  true  fur  trader  to  the  core. 
In  after-dinner  talks,  on  the  day  of  the  launch,  he  tried 
to  frighten  the  Americans  away  from  the  coast.  Not 
fifty  skins  in  a  year  were  to  be  had,  he  said.  Only 
the  palisades  and  cannon  protected  him  from  the  Ind- 
ians, of  whom  there  were  more  than  two  thousand 
hostiles  at  Nootka,  he  reported.  They  could  have 
his  fort  for  firewood  after  he  left.  He  had  purchased 
the  right  to  build  it  from  the  Indians.  (Whether  he  ac- 
knowledged that  he  paid  the  Indians  only  two  old  pistols 
for  this  privilege,  is  not  recorded.)  At  all  events,  it 


ROBERT   GRAY  225 

would  not  be  worth  while  for  the  Americans  to  remain 
on  the  coast.  The  Americans  listened  and  smiled. 
Meares  offered  to  carry  any  mail  to  China,  and  on  the 
2d  was  towed  out  of  port  by  Gray  and  the  other  Eng- 
lish captain,  Douglas;  but  what  was  Gray's  astonish- 
ment to  receive  the  packet  of  mail  back  from  Douglas. 
Meares  had  only  pretended  to  carry  it  out  in  order 
that  none  of  his  crew  might  be  bribed  to  take  it,  and 
then  had  sent  it  back  by  his  partner,  Douglas  —  true 
fur  trader  in  checkmating  the  moves  of  rivals.  Later 
on,  when  Meares's  men  were  in  desperate  straits  in  this 
same  port,  they  wondered  that  the  Americans  stood 
apart  from  the  quarrel,  if  not  actually  siding  with 
Spain. 

On  September  23  appeared  a  strange  sail  on  the 
offing  —  the  Columbia,  under  Kendrick,  sails  down 
and  draggled,  spars  storm-torn,  two  men  dead  of 
scurvy,  and  the  crew  all  ill. 

October  I  celebrated  a  grand  anniversary  of  the 
departure  from  Boston  the  previous  year.  At  pre- 
cisely midday  the  Columbia  boomed  out  thirteen  guns. 
The  sloop  set  the  echoes  rocketing  with  another  thirteen. 
Douglas's  ship  roared  out  a  salute  of  seven  cannon 
shots,  the  fort  on  land  six  more,  and  the  day  was  given 
up  to  hilarity,  all  hands  dining  on  board  the  Columbia 
with  such  wild  fowl  as  the  best  game  woods  in  the 
world  afforded,  and  copious  supply  of  Spanish  wines. 
Toasts  were  drunk  to  the  first  United  States  ship  on 
the  Pacific  coast  of  America.  On  October  26 


226 


VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 


Douglas's  ship  and  the  fur  trader,  Northwest-America, 
were  towed  out,  bound  for  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and 
the  Americans  were  left  alone  on  the  northwest 
coast,  the  fort  having  been  demolished,  and  the  logs 
turned  over  to  Kendrick  for  firewood. 


Feather  Cloak  worn  by  a  son  of  an  Hawaiian  Chief,  at  the  celebration  in 
honor  of  Gray's  return.  Photographed  by  courtesy  of  Mrs.  Joy,  the 
present  owner. 

The  winter  of  1788-1789  passed  uneventfully  except 
that  the  English  were  no  sooner  out  of  the  harbor, 
than  the  Indians,  who  had  kept  askance  of  the 
Americans,  came  in  flocks  to  trade.  Inasmuch  as 
Cook's  name  is  a  household  word,  world  over,  for  what 
he  did  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  Gray's  name  barely 
known  outside  the  city  of  Boston  and  the  state  of  Ore- 


ROBERT   GRAY  227 

gon,  it  is  well  to  follow  Gray's  movements  on  the  Lady 
Washington.  March  found  him  trading  south  of 
Nootka  at  Clayoquot,  named  Hancock,  after  the  gov- 
ernor of  Massachusetts.  April  saw  him  fifty  miles 
up  the  Straits  of  Fuca,  which  Cook  had  said  did  not 
exist.  Then  he  headed  north  again,  touching  at 
Nootka,  where  he  found  Douglas,  the  Englishman, 
had  come  back  from  the  Sandwich  Islands  with  the 
two  ships.  Passing  out  of  Nootka  at  four  in  the  after- 
noon of  May  i,  he  met  a  stately  ship,  all  sails  set, 
twenty  guns  pointed,  under  Spanish  colors,  gliding 
into  the  harbor.  It  was  the  flag-ship  of  Don  Joseph 
Martinez,  sent  out  to  Bering  Sea  on  a  voyage  of  dis- 
covery, with  a  consort,  and  now  entering  Nootka  to 
take  possession  in  the  name  of  Spain.  Martinez  ex- 
amined Gray's  passports,  learned  that  the  Americans 
had  no  thought  of  laying  claim  to  Nootka  and,  finding 
out  about  Douglas's  ship  inside  the  harbor,  seemed  to 
conclude  that  it  would  be  wise  to  make  friends  of  the 
Americans ;  and  he  presented  Gray  with  wines,  brandy, 
hams,  and  spices. 

"She  will  make  a  good  prize,"  was  his  sententious 
remark  to  Gray  about  the  English  ship. 

Rounding  northward,  Gray  met  the  companion  ship 
of  the  Spanish  commander.  It  will  be  remembered 
Cook  missed  proving  that  the  west  coast  was  a  chain 
of  islands.  Since  Cook's  time,  Barclay,  an  English- 
man, and  Meares  had  been  in  the  Straits  of  Fuca. 
Dixon  had  discovered  Queen  Charlotte  Island;  but 


228         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

the  cruising  of  the  little  sloop,  Lady  Washington,  cov- 
ered a  greater  area  than  Meares's,  Barclay's  and  Dixon's 
ships  together.  First  it  rounded  the  north  end  of 
Vancouver,  proving  this  was  island,  not  continent. 
These  northern  waters  Gray  called  Derby  Sound,  after 
the  outfitter.  He  then  passed  up  between  Queen 
Charlotte  Island  and  the  continent  for  two  hundred 
miles,  calling  this  island  Washington.  It  was  north- 
ward of  Portland  Canal,  somewhere  near  what  is  now 
Wrangel,  that  the  brave  little  sloop  was  caught  in  a  ter- 
rific gale  that  raged  over  her  for  two  hours,  damaging 
masts  and  timbers  so  that  Gray  was  compelled  to  turn 
back  from  what  he  called  Distress  Cove,  for  repairs  at 
Nootka.  At  one  point  off  Prince  of  Wales  Island, 
the  Indians  willingly  traded  two  hundred  otter  skins, 
worth  eight  thousand  dollars,  for  an  old  iron  chisel. 

In  the  second  week  of  June  the  sloop  was  back  at 
Nootka,  where  Gray  was  not  a  little  surprised  to  find 
the  Spanish  had  erected  a  fort  on  Hog  Island,  seized 
Douglas's  vessel,  and  only  released  her  on  condition 
that  the  little  fur  trader  Northwest-America  should 
become  Spanish  property  on  entering  Nootka. 

Gray  and  Kendrick  now  exchanged  ships,  Gray, 
who  had  proved  himself  the  swifter  navigator,  going  on 
the  Columbia,  taking  Haswell  with  him  as  mate.  In 
return  for  one  hundred  otter  skins,  Gray  was  to  carry 
the  captured  crew  of  the  Northwest-America  to  China 
for  the  Spaniards.  On  July  30,  1789,  he  left  Van- 
couver Island.  Stop  was  made  at  Hawaii  for  pro- 


John  Derby,  from  the  portrait  by  Gilbert  Stuart,  by  courtesy  of  the 
owner.  Dr.  George  B.  Shattuck. 


ROBERT   GRAY  229 

visions,  and  Atto,  the  son  of  a  chief,  boarded  the 
Columbia  to  visit  America.  On  December  6  the  Co- 
lumbia delivered  her  cargo  of  furs  to  Shaw  &  Randall 
of  Canton,  receiving  in  exchange  tea  for  Samuel  Park- 
man,  of  Boston.  It  was  February,  1790,  before  the 
Columbia  was  ready  to  sail  for  Boston,  and  dropping 
down  the  river  she  passed  the  Lady  Washington,  under 
Kendrick,  in  a  cove  where  the  gale  hid  her  from  Gray. 
On  August  n,  1790,  after  rounding  Good  Hope 
and  touching  at  St.  Helena,  Gray  entered  Boston.  It 
was  the  first  time  an  American  ship  had  gone  round 
the  world,  almost  fifty  thousand  miles,  her  log-book 
showed,  and  salvos  of  artillery  thundered  a  welcome. 
General  Lincoln,  the  port  collector,  was  first  on  board 
to  shake  Gray's  hand.  The  whole  city  of  Boston  was 
on  the  wharf  to  cheer  him  home,  and  the  explorer 
walked  up  the  streets  side  by  side  with  Atto,  the  Ha- 
waiian boy,  gorgeous  in  helmet  and  cloak  of  yellow 
plumage.  Governor  Hancock  gave  a  public  reception 
to  Gray.  The  Columbia  went  to  the  shipyards  to  be 
overhauled,  and  the  shareholders  met. 

Owing  to  the  glutting  of  the  market  at  Canton,  the 
sea-otter  had  not  sold  well.  Practically  the  venture 
of  these  glory  seekers  had  not  ended  profitably.  The 
voyage  had  been  at  a  loss.  Derby  and  Pintard  sold 
out  to  Barrell  and  Brown.  But  the  lure  of  glory,  or 
the  wilds,  or  the  venture  of  the  unknown,  was  on  the 
others.  They  decided  to  send  the  Columbia  back  at 


23o         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

once  on  a  second  voyage.  Perhaps,  this  time,  she  would 
find  that  great  River  of  the  West,  which  was  to  be  to 
the  Pacific  coast  what  the  Hudson  was  to  the  East. 

Coolidge  and  Ingraham  now  left  the  Columbia  for 
ventures  of  their  own  to  the  Pacific.  Haswell,  whose 
diary,  with  Gray's  log-book,  gives  all  details  of  the 
voyage,  went  as  first  mate.  George  Davidson,  an 
artist,  Samuel  Yendell,  a  carpenter,  Haskins,  an  ac- 
countant of  Barrell's  Company,  Joshua  Caswell  of 
Maiden,  Abraham  Waters,  and  John  Boit  were  the 
new  men  to  enlist  for  the  venturesome  voyage.  The 
Columbia  left  Boston  for  a  second  voyage  September 
28,  1790,  and  reached  Clayoquot  on  the  west  coast  of 
Vancouver  Island  on  June  5,  1791.  True  to  his 
nature,  Gray  lost  not  a  day,  but  was  off  for  the  sea- 
otter  harvest  of  the  north,  up  Portland  Canal  near 
what  is  now  Alaska.  The  dangers  of  the  first  voyage 
proved  a  holiday  compared  to  this  trip.  Formerly, 
Gray  had  treated  the  Indians  with  kindness.  Now, 
he  found  kindness  was  mistaken  only  for  fear. 
Joshua  Caswell,  Barnes,  and  Folger  had  been  sent  up 
Portland  Canal  to  reconnoitre.  Whether  ambushed 
or  openly  assaulted,  they  never  returned.  Only  Cas- 
well's  body  was  found,  and  buried  on  the  beach. 
Later,  when  the  grave  was  revisited,  the  body  had 
been  stolen,  in  all  likelihood  for  cannibal  rites,  as  no 
more  degraded  savages  exist  than  those  of  this  archi- 
pelago. Over  on  Queen  Charlotte  Island,  Kendrick, 
who  had  returned  from  China  on  the  Lady  Washington, 


Map  of  Gray's  two  voyages,  resulting  in  the  discovery 
of  the  Columbiat 


232         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

was  having  his  own  time.  One  day,  when  all  had  gone 
below  decks  to  rest,  a  taunting  laugh  was  heard  from 
the  hatchway.  Kendrick  rushed  above  to  find  Indians 
scrambling  over  the  decks  of  the  Lady  Washington 
like  a  nest  of  disgruntled  hornets.  A  warrior  flour- 
ished the  key  of  the  ammunition  chest,  which  stood 
by  the  hatchway,  in  Kendrick's  face  with  the  words : 
"Key  is  mine!  So  is  the  ship!" 

If  Kendrick  had  hesitated  for  the  fraction  of  a 
second,  all  would  have  been  lost,  as  on  Astor's  ship  a 
few  years  later;  but  before  the  savages  had  time  for 
any  concerted  signal,  he  had  seized  the  speaker  by 
the  scrufF  of  the  neck,  and  tossed  him  into  the  sea.  In 
a  second  every  savage  had  scuttled  over  decks;  but 
the  scalp  of  Kendrick's  son  Solomon  was  found  on 
the  beach.  Henceforth  neither  Kendrick  nor  Gray 
allowed  more  than  ten  savages  on  board  at  a  time, 
and  Kendrick  at  once  headed  south  to  take  the  harvest 
of  furs  to  China.  At  Nootka  things  had  gone  from 
bad  to  worse  between  the  English  and  the  Spaniards. 
Though  Kendrick  bought  great  tracts  of  land  from 
the  Indian  chiefs  at  Nootka  for  the  price  of  a  copper 
kettle,  he  judged  it  prudent  to  keep  away  from  a  Span- 
ish commander,  whose  mission  it  was  to  capture  the 
ships  of  rival  traders;  so  the  American  sloop  moored 
in  Clayoquot,  south  of  Nootka,  where  Gray  found 
Kendrick  ready  to  sail  for  China  by  September. 

At  Clayoquot  was  built  the  first  American  fort  on 
the  Pacific  coast.  Here  Gr~v  erected  winter  quarters. 


ROBERT   GRAY  233 

The  Columbia  was  unrigged  and  beached.  The  dense 
forest  rang  with  the  sound  of  the  choppers.  The  enor- 
mous spruce,  cedar,  and  fir  trees  were  hewn  into  logs 
for  several  cabins  and  a  barracks,  the  bark  slabs  being 
used  as  a  palisade.  Inside  the  main  house  were  quar- 
ters for  ten  men.  Loopholes  punctured  all  sides  of 
the  house.  Two  cannon  were  mounted  outside  the 
window  embrasures,  one  inside  the  gate  or  door.  The 
post  was  named  Fort  Defence.  Sentinels  kept  guard 
night  and  day.  Military  discipline  was  maintained, 
and  divine  service  held  each  Sunday.  On  October  3 
timbers  were  laid  for  a  new  ship,  to  be  called  the  dd- 
venture,  to  collect  furs  for  the  Columbia.  All  the 
winter  of  1791-1792,  Gray  visited  the  Indians,  sent 
medicines  to  their  sick,  allowed  his  men  to  go  shoot- 
ing with  them,  and  even  nursed  one  ill  chief  inside  the 

O  7 

barracks;  but  he  was  most  careful  not  to  allow  women 
or  more  than  a  few  warriors  inside  the  fort. 

What  was  his  horror,  then,  on  February  18,  when 
Atto,  the  Hawaiian  boy,  came  to  him  with  news  that 
the  Indians,  gathered  to  the  number  of  two  thousand, 
and  armed  with  at  least  two  hundred  muskets  got  in 
trade,  had  planned  the  entire  extermination  of  the 
whites.  They  had  offered  to  make  the  Hawaiian  boy 
a  great  chief  among  them  if  he  would  steal  more  am- 
munition for  the  Indians,  wet  all  the  priming  of  the 
white  men's  arms,  and  join  the  conspiracy  to  let  the  sav- 
ages get  possession  of  fort  and  ship.  In  the  history  of 
American  pathfinding,  no  explorer  was  ever  in  greater 


234         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

danger.  Less  than  a  score  of  whites  against  two 
thousand  armed  warriors !  Scarcely  any  ammunition 
had  been  brought  in  from  the  Columbia.  All  the 
swivels  of  the  dismantled  ship  were  lying  on  the  bank. 
Gray  instantly  took  advantage  of  high  tide  to  get  the 
ship  on  her  sea  legs,  and  out  from  the  bank.  Swivels 
were  trundled  with  all  speed  back  to  the  decks.  For 
that  night  a  guard  watched  the  fort;  but  the  next 
night,  when  the  assault  was  expected,  all  hands  were 
on  board,  provisions  had  been  stowed  in  the  hold,  and 
small  arms  were  loaded.  The  men  were  still  to  mid- 
waist  in  water,  scraping  barnacles  from  the  keel,  when 
a  whoop  sounded  from  the  shore;  but  the  change  in 
the  ship's  position  evidently  upset  the  plans  of  the 
savages,  for  they  withdrew.  On  the  morning  of  the 
2Oth  the  woods  were  seen  to  be  alive  with  ambushed 
men;  and  Haswell  had  the  cannon  loaded  with  can- 
ister fired  into  the  woods.  At  eleven  that  very  morn- 
ing, the  chief,  at  the  head  of  the  plot,  came  to  sell  otter 
skins,  and  ask  if  some  of  the  crew  would  not  visit  the 
village.  Gray  jerked  the  skins  from  his  arms,  and 
the  rascal  was  over  decks  in  terror  of  his  life.  That 
was  the  end  of  the  plot.  On  the  23d  the  Adventure 
was  launched,  the  second  vessel  built  on  the  Pacific, 
the  first  American  vessel  built  there  at  all;  and  by 
April  2  Haswell  was  ready  to  go  north  on  her.  Gray 
on  the  Columbia  was  going  south  to  have  another  try 
at  that  great  River  of  the  West,  which  Spanish  charts 
represented. 


ROBERT   GRAY  235 

Without  a  doubt,  if  the  river  existed  at  all,  it  was 
down  behind  that  Cape  Disappointment  where  Meares 
had  failed  to  go  in,  and  Heceta  been  driven  back. 
Just  what  Gray  did  between  April  2  and  May  7 
is  a  matter  of  guessing.  Anyway,  Captain  George 
Vancouver  sent  out  from  England  to  settle  the  dispute 
about  Nootka,  at  six  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  April 
29,  just  off  the  wave-lashed  rocks  of  Cape  Flattery, 
and  within  sight  of  Olympus's  snowy  sky-line,  noticed 
a  ship  on  the  offing  carrying  American  colors.  He 
sent  Mr.  Puget  and  Mr.  Menzies  to  inquire. 

They  brought  back  word  that  Gray  "had  been  off 
the  mouth  of  a  river  in  46°  10'  where  the  outset  and 
reflux  was  so  strong  as  to  prevent  entering  for  nine 
days,"  and  that  Gray  had  been  fifty  miles  up  the 
Straits  of  Fuca. 

Both  facts  were  distasteful  to  Vancouver.  He  had 
wished  to  be  the  first  to  explore  the  Straits  of  Fuca, 
and  on  only  April  27,  had  passed  an  opening  which 
he  pronounced  inaccessible  and  not  a  river,  certainly 
not  a  river  worthy  of  his  attention.  Yet  the  exact 
words  of  Captain  Bruno  Heceta,  the  Spaniard,  in  1775 
were:  "These  currents  .  .  .  cause  me  to  believe  that 
the  place  is  the  mouth  of  some  great  river.  ...  I  did 
not  enter  and  anchor  there  because  ...  if  we  let  go 
the  anchor,  we  had  not  enough  men  to  get  it  up. 
(Thirty-five  were  down  with  scurvy.)  ...  At  the  dis- 
tance of  three  or  four  leagues,  I  lay  too.  I  experienced 
heavy  currents,  which  made  it  impossible  to  enter  the 


236         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

bay,  as  I  was  far  to  leeward.  .  .  .  These  currents, 
however,  convince  me  that  a  great  quantity  of  water 
rushed  from  this  bay  on  the  ebb  of  the  tide." 

So  the  Spaniard  failed  to  enter,  and  now  the 
great  English  navigator  went  on  his  way,  convinced 
there  was  no  River  of  the  West;  but  Robert  Gray 
headed  back  south  determined  to  find  what  lay  be- 
hind the  tremendous  crash  of  breakers  and  sand 
bar.  On  the  yth  of  May,  the  rowboat  towed  the 
Columbia  into  what  is  now  known  as  Gray's  Harbor, 
where  he  opened  trade  with  the  Indians,  and  was  pres- 
ently so  boldly  overrun  by  them,  that  he  was  compelled 
to  fire  into  their  canoes,  killing  seven.  Putting  out 
from  this  harbor  on  the  loth,  he  steered  south,  keeping 
close  ashore,  and  was  rewarded  at  four  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  the  iith  by  hearing  a  tide-rip  like  thunder 
and  seeing  an  ocean  of  waters  crashing  sheer  over  sand 
bar  and  reef  with  a  cataract  of  foam  in  midair  from 
the  drive  of  colliding  waves.  Milky  waters  tinged  the 
sea  as  of  inland  streams.  Gray  had  found  the  river, 
but  could  he  enter  ?  A  gentle  wind,  straight  as  a  die, 
was  driving  direct  ashore.  Gray  waited  till  the  tide 
seemed  to  lift  or  deepen  the  waters  of  the  reef,  then 
at  eight  in  the  morning,  all  sails  set  like  a  bird  on  wing, 
drove  straight  for  the  narrow  entrance  between  reefs 
and  sand.  Once  across  the  bar,  he  saw  the  mouth 
of  a  magnificent  river  of  fresh  water.  He  had  found 
the  River  of  the  West. 

Gray  describes  the  memorable  event  in  these  simple 


ROBERT   GRAY 


237 


words:  "May  nth  ...  at  four  A.M.  saw  the  entrance 
of  our  desired  port  bearing  east-southeast,  distance  six 
leagues  ...  at  eight  A.M.  being  a  little  to  windward  of 
the  entrance  of  the  harbor,  bore  away,  and  ran  in  east- 
southeast  between  the  breakers.  .  .  .  When  we  were 
over  the  bar,  we  found  this  to  be  a  large  river  of  fresh 


A  View  of  the  Columbia  River. 


canoes    came 


water,    up    which    we    steered.     Many 
alongside.     At  one  P.M.  came  to  (anchor).   .  .   ." 

By  the  I4th,  Gray  had  ascended  the  river  twenty 
or  thirty  miles  from  the  sea,  but  was  compelled  to 
turn,  as  he  had  taken  a  shallow  channel.  Dropping 
down  with  the  tide,  he  anchored  on  the  iQth  and  went 
ashore,  where  he  planted  coins  under  a  tree,  took  pos- 


238         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

session  in  the  name  of  the  United  States,  and  named 
the  river  "Columbia."  On  the  2Oth,  he  crossed  the 
bar  and  was  out  again  on  the  Pacific.  The  most  of 
men  would  have  rested,  satisfied  with  half  he  had 
done.  Not  so  Gray.  He  headed  the  Columbia  north 
again  for  the  summer's  trade  in  what  is  now  known  as 
southern  Alaska.  Only  damages  to  the  Columbia 
drove  her  down  to  Nootka  in  July,  where  Don  Quadra, 
the  new  Spanish  commander,  and  Captain  Van- 
couver were  in  conference  over  those  English  ships 
seized  by  Martinez.  To  Quadra,  Gray  sold  the  little 
Adventure,  pioneer  of  American  shipbuilding  on  the 
Pacific,  for  seventy-five  otter  skins.  From  Spanish 
sources  it  is  learned  Gray's  cargo  had  over  three 
thousand  otter  skins,  and  fifteen  thousand  other  pel- 
tries; so  the  second  voyage  may  have  made  up  for 
the  loss  of  the  first. 

On  October  3  the  Columbia  left  America  for 
China;  and  on  July  29,  1793,  came  to  the  home 
harbor  of  Boston.  Sometime  between  1806  and  1809, 
Gray  died  in  South  Carolina,  a  poor  man.  It  is  doubt- 
ful if  his  widow's  petition  to  Congress  ever  materialized 
in  a  reward  for  any  of  his  descendants.  Kendrick, 
eclipsed  by  his  brilliant  assistant,  was  accidentally 
killed  in  Hawaii  by  the  wad  of  a  gun  fired  by  a  British 
vessel  to  salute  the  Lady  Washington.  From  the 
date  1793  or  1795  the  little  sloop  drops  out  of  sea- 
faring annals. 

What  is  Gray's  place  among  pathfinders  and  naval 


ROBERT    GRAY  239 

heroes  ?  Where  does  his  life's  record  leave  him  ?  It 
was  not  spectacular  work.  It  was  not  work  backed 
by  a  government,  like  Bering's  or  Cook's.  It  was 
the  work  of  an  individual  adventurer,  like  Radis- 
son  east  of  the  Rockies.  Gray  was  a  man  who  did 
much  and  said  little.  He  was  not  accompanied  by  a 


At  the  Mouth  of  the  Columbia  River. 

host  of  scientists  to  herald  his  fame  to  the  world. 
Judged  solely  by  results,  what  did  he  accomplish  ? 
The  same  for  the  United  States  that  Cook  did  for  Eng- 
land. He  led  the  way  for  the  American  flag  around 
the  world.  Measuring  purely  by  distance,  his  ship's 
log  would  compare  well  with  Cook's  or  Vancouver's. 
The  same  part  of  the  Pacific  coast,  which  they  ex- 


24o         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

plored,  he  explored,  except  that  he  did  not  go  to  north- 
ern Alaska ;  and  he  compensated  for  that  by  discovering 
the  great  river,  which  they  both  said  had  no  existence. 
And  yet,  who  that  knows  of  Cook  and  Vancouver,  knows 
as  much  of  Gray  ?  Authentic  histories  are  still  written 
that  speak  of  Gray's  discovery  doubtfully.  Gray  did 
much,  but  said  little;  and  the  world  is  prone  to  take 
a  man  at  his  own  valuation.  Yet  if  the  world  places 
Cook  and  Vancouver  in  the  niches  of  naval  heroes, 
Gray  must  be  placed  between  them. 

There  is  a  curious  human  side  to  the  story  of  these 
glory  seekers,  too.  Bulfinch  was  so  delighted  over  the 
discovery  of  the  Columbia,  that  he  had  his  daughter 
christened  "Columbia,"  to  which  the  young  lady  ob- 
jected in  later  years,  so  that  the  name  was  dropped. 
In  commemoration  of  Don  Quadra's  kindness  in  re- 
pairing the  ship  Columbia,  Gray  named  one  of  his 
children  Quadra.  The  curios  brought  back  by  In- 
graham  on  the  first  voyage  were  donated  to  Harvard. 
Descendants  of  Gray  still  have  the  pictures  drawn  by 
Davidson  and  Haswell  on  the  second  voyage.  The 
sea  chest  carried  round  the  world  by  Gray  now  rests  in 
the  keeping  of  an  historical  society  in  Portland ;  and  the 
feather  cloak  worn  up  the  street  by  the  boy  Atto,  when 
he  marched  in  the  procession  with  Gray,  is  treasured 
in  Boston.1 

1  Much  concerning  Gray's  voyages  can  be  found  in  the  accounts  of  contemporary 
navigators  like  Meares  and  Vancouver ;  but  the  essential  facts  of  the  voyages  are 
obtainable  from  the  records  of  Gray's  log-book,  and  of  diaries  kept  by  hi*  officer*. 


ROBERT   GRAY  241 

Gray's  log-book  itself  seems  to  have  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Bulfinch  family. 
From  a  copy  of  the  original,  Thomas  Bulfinch  reprinted  the  exact  entry  of  the  discovery 
on  May  1 1,  1792,  in  his  Oregon  and  Eldorado,  a  Romance  of  the  Rivers,  Boston,  1 866. 
The  log-book  is  now  on  file  in  the  Department  of  State,  Washington  ;  but  that  part  from 
which  Bulfinch  made  his  extract  is  missing  ;  nor  is  it  known  where  this  section  was  lost ; 
as  it  was  in  1816  that  Mr.  Charles  Bulfinch  made  a  copy  of  this  section  from  the  orig- 
inal. Greenhow's  Oregon  and  California,  Boston,  1844,  issued  under  the  auspices  of 
Congress,  gives  the  log-book  in  full  from  May  yth  to  May  2ist.  Hubert  Howe  Ban- 
croft in  his  Northwest  Coast,  Volume  I,  1890,  reproduces  the  diary  in  full  of  Haswell 
for  both  voyages.  It  is  from  Haswell  that  the  fullest  account  of  the  Indian  plots  are 
obtained ;  but  at  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  the  Columbia,  Haswell  was  on  the  little 
sloop  Adventure,  and  what  he  reports  is  from  hearsay.  His  words  in  the  entry  of  June 
14  are  :  "They  (the  Columbia)  had  very  disagreeable  weather  but  .  .  .  good  success. 
.  .  .  They  discovered  a  harbor  in  latitude  46°  53'  rorth.  .  .  .  This  is  Gray's 
Harbor.  Here  they  were  attacked  by  the  natives,  and  the  savages  had  a  considerable 
slaughter  made  among  them.  They  next  entered  Columbia  River,  and  went  up  it 
about  thirty  miles,  and  doubted  not  it  was  navigable  upwards  of  a  hundred  miles.  .  .  . 
The  ship  (Columbia)  during  the  cruise  had  collected  upwards  of  seven  hundred  sea-otter 
skins  and  fifteen  thousand  skins  of  other  species."  The  pictures  made  by  Davidson,  the 
artist,  on  the  second  voyage,  owned  by  collectors  in  Boston,  tell  their  own  story.  From 
all  these  sources,  and  from  the  descendants  of  Gray,  the  Rev.  Edward  G.  Porter  col- 
lected data  for  his  lecture  before  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  afterward  published 
in  the  New  England  Magazine  of  June,  1892.  The  Massachusetts  Historical  Pro- 
ceedings for  1892  have,  by  all  odds,  the  most  complete  collection  of  data  bearing  on 
Gray.  The  archives  include  the  medal  and  three  of  Davidson's  drawings,  also  papers 
relating  to  the  Columbia  presented  by  Barrell.  The  Salem  Institute  has  also  some  data 
on  the  ships.  The  Massachusetts  Proceedings  for  1869-1870  also  give,  from  the 
Archives  of  California,  the  letter  of  Governor  Don  Pedro  Pages  of  Santa  Barbara  to 
Don  Josef  Arguello  of  San  Francisco,  warning  the  latter  against  the  American  navi- 
gators. Greenhow  obtained  from  the  Hydrographical  Office  at  Madrid  the  report  of 
Captain  Bruno  Heceta's  voyage  in  1775,  when  he  sighted  the  mouth  of  a  river  sup- 
posed to  be  the  Columbia. 


CHAPTER    IX 

1778-1790 

JOHN   LEDYARD,  THE   FORERUNNER  OF  LEWIS  AND 

CLARK 

A  New  England  Ne'er-do-well,  turned  from  the  Door  of  Rich  Rela- 
tives, joins  Cook's  Expedition  to  America  —  Adventure  among  the 
Russians  of  Oonalaska  —  Useless  Endeavor  to  interest  New  Eng- 
land Merchants  in  Fur  Trade  —  A  Soldier  of  Fortune  in  Paris,  he 
meets  Jefferson  and  Paul  Jones  and  outlines  Exploration  of  Western 
America  —  Succeeds  in  crossing  Siberia  alone  on  the  Way  to  America, 
but  is  thwarted  by  Russian  Fur  Traders 

WHEN  his  relatives  banged  the  door  in  his  face, 
turning  him  destitute  in  the  streets  of  London,  if  John 
Ledyard  could  have  foreseen  that  the  act  would  in- 
directly lead  to  the  Lewis  and  Clark  exploration  of  the 
great  region  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Pacific, 
he  would  doubtless  have  regarded  the  unkindness  as 
Dick  Whittington  did  the  cat,  that  led  on  to  fortune. 
He  had  been  a  dreamer  from  the  time  he  was  born  in 
Groton,  opposite  New  London,  Connecticut  —  the 
kind  of  a  dreamer  whose  moonshine  lights  the  path  of 
other  men  to  success;  but  his  wildest  dreams  never 
dared  the  bigness  of  an  empire  many  times  greater 
than  the  original  states  of  the  Union. 

242 


JOHN    LEDYARD  243 

Instead  he  had  landed  at  Plymouth,  ragged,  not  a 
farthing  in  the  bottom  of  his  pockets,  not  a  farthing's 
possession  on  earth  but  his  hopes.  Those  hopes  were 
to  reach  rich  relatives  in  London,  who  might  give  him 
a  lift  to  the  first  rung  of  the  world's  climbers.  He  was 
twenty-five  years  old.  He  had  burned  his  ships  be- 
hind him.  That  is,  he  had  disappointed  all  his  rela- 
tives in  America  so  thoroughly  that  he  could  never 
again  turn  for  help  to  the  home  hands. 

They  had  designed  him  for  a  profession,  these  New 
England  friends.  If  Nature  had  designed  him  for  the 
same  thing,  it  would  have  been  all  right;  but  she 
hadn't.  The  son  of  a  widowed  mother,  the  love  of 
the  sea,  of  pathless  places,  of  what  is  just  out  of  sight 
over  the  dip  of  the  horizon,  was  in  his  blood  from  his 
father's  side.  Friends  thought  he  should  be  well  satis- 
fied when  he  was  sent  to  live  with  his  grandfather  at 

O 

Hartford  and  apprenticed  to  the  law;  but  John  Led- 
yard  hated  the  pettifogging  of  the  law,  hated  roofed- 
over,  walled-in  life,  wanted  the  kind  of  life  where  men 
do  things,  not  just  dicker,  and  philosophize,  and  com- 
promise over  the  fag-ends  of  things  other  men  have 
done.  At  twenty-one  years  of  age,  without  any  of  the 
prospects  that  lure  the  prudent  soul,  he  threw  over  all 
idea  of  law.1 

Friends    were    aghast.     Manifestly,    the    boy    had 

1  The  world  owes  all  knowledge  of  Ledyard's  intimate  life  to  Jared  Sparks,  who 
compiled  his  life  of  Ledyard  from  journals  and  correspondence  collected  by  Dr.  Ledyard 
and  Henry  Seymour  of  Hartford. 


244 


VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 


brains.     He  devoured  information,  absorbed  facts  like 
an  encyclopaedia,  and  observed  everything.     The  Greek 


Ledyard  in  his  dugout,  from  a  contemporaneous  print. 

Testament  and  Ovid  were  his  companions;  yet  he  re- 
belled at  the  immured  existence  of  the  scholar.  At 
that  time  (1772),  Dartmouth  was  the  rendezvous  of 


JOHN    LEDYARD  245 

missionaries  to  the  Indians.  The  college  itself  held 
lectures  to  the  singing  of  the  winds  through  the  forests 
around  it.  The  blowing  of  a  conch-shell  called  to 
lessons;  and  a  sort  of  wildwood  piety  pervaded  the 
atmosphere.  Urged  by  his  mother,  Ledyard  made  one 
more  honest  attempt  to  fit  his  life  to  a  stereotyped 
form,  and  came  to  study  at  Dartmouth  for  the  mission- 
ary's career. 

It  was  not  a  success.  When  he  thought  to  get  a 
foretaste  of  the  missionary  vocation  by  making  a  dug- 
out and  floating  down  the  whole  length  of  Connecticut 
River,  one  hundred  and  forty  miles,  the  scholarly 
professors  were  shocked.  And  when  he  disappeared 
for  four  months  to  make  a  farther  test  by  living  among 
the  Mohawks,  the  faculty  was  furious.  His  friends 
gave  him  up  as  hopeless,  a  ne'er-do-well;  and  Ledyard 
gave  over  the  farce  of  trying  to  live  according  to  other 
men's  patterns. 

What  now  determined  him  was  what  directs  the 
most  of  lives  —  need  for  bread  and  butter.  He  be- 
came a  common  sailor  on  the  ship  of  a  friend  in  New 
London,  and  at  twenty-five  landed  in  Plymouth,  light 
of  heart  as  he  was  light  of  purse.  The  world  was  an 
oyster  to  be  opened  by  his  own  free  lance;  and  up  he 
tramped  from  Plymouth  to  London  in  company  with 
an  Irishman  penniless  as  himself,  gay  as  a  lark,  to  the 
world's  great  capital  with  the  world's  great  prizes  for 
those  with  the  wits  to  win  them.  A  carnage  with  driver 


246         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

and  footman  in  livery  wearing  the  armorial  design  of 
his  own  Ledyard  ancestors  rolled  past  in  the  street. 
He  ran  to  the  coachman,  asked  the  address,  and  pre- 
sented himself  at  the  door  of  the  ancestral  Ledyards, 
hope  beating  high.  The  relationship  was  to  be  the  key 
to  open  all  doors.  And  the  door  of  the  ancestral  Led- 
yards was  shut  in  his  face.  The  father  was  out.  The 
son  put  no  stock  in  the  story  of  the  ragged  stranger. 
He  did  not  even  know  that  Ledyards  existed  in  Amer- 
ica. What  was  to  hinder  any  common  tramp  trump- 
ing up  such  a  story  ?  Where  were  the  tattered  fellow's 
proofs  ?  Ledyard  came  away  with  just  enough  whole- 
some human  rage  to  keep  him  from  sinking  to  despair, 
or  to  what  is  more  unmanning,  self-pity.  He  had 
failed  before,  through  trying  to  frame  his  life  to  other 
men's  plans.  He  had  failed  now,  through  trying  to 
win  success  through  other  men's  efforts  —  a  barnacle 
clinging  to  the  hull  of  some  craft  freighted  with  for- 
tune. Perhaps,  too,  he  fairly  and  squarely  faced  the 
fact  that  if  he  was  to  be  one  whit  different  from  the 
beggar  for  whom  he  had  been  mistaken,  he  must 
build  his  own  life  solely  and  wholly  on  his  own  efforts. 
On  he  wandered,  the  roar  of  the  great  city's  activi- 
ties rolling  past  him  in  a  tide.  His  rage  had  time  to 
cool.  Afternoon,  twilight,  dark;  and  still  the  tide 
rolled  past  him;  past  him  because  like  a  stranded  hull 
rotting  for  lack  of  use,  he  had  put  himself  outside  the 
tide  of  human  effort.  He  must  build  up  his  own 
career.  That  was  the  fact  he  had  wrested  out  of  his 


JOHN    LEDYARD  247 

rage;  but  unless  his  abilities  were  to  rot  in  some  stag- 
nant pool,  he  must  launch  out  on  the  great  tide  of 
human  work.  Before  he  had  taken  that  resolution, 
the  roar  of  the  city  had  been  terrifying  —  a  tide  that 
might  swamp.  Now,  the  thunder  of  the  world's  traffic 
was  a  shout  of  triumph.  He  would  launch  out,  let  the 
tide  carry  him  where  it  might. 

All  London  was  resounding  with  the  project  of 
Cook's  third  voyage  round  the  world  —  the  voyage 
that  was  to  settle  forever  how  far  America  projected 
into  the  Pacific.  Recruits  were  being  mustered  for 
the  voyage.  It  came  to  Ledyard  in  an  inspiration  — 
the  new  field  for  his  efforts,  the  call  of  the  sea  that 
paved  a  golden  path  around  the  world,  the  freedom  for 
shoulder-swing  to  do  all  that  a  man  was  worth.  Quick 
as  flash,  he  was  off — going  with  the  tide  now,  not  a  dere- 
lict, not  a  stranded  hull  —  off  to  shave,  and  wash,  and 
respectable-ize,  in  order  to  apply  as  a  recruit  with  Cook. 

In  the  dark,  somewhere  near  the  sailors'  mean  lodg- 
ings, a  hand  touched  him.  He  turned;  it  was  the 
rich  man's  son,  come  profuse  of  apologies :  his  father 
had  returned;  father  and  son  begged  to  proffer  both 
financial  aid  and  hospitality—-  Ledyard  cut  him  short 
with  a  terse  but  forcible  invitation  to  go  his  own  way. 
That  the  unknown  colonial  at  once  received  a  berth 
with  Cook  as  corporal  of  marines,  when  half  the  young 
men  of  England  with  influence  to  back  their  applica- 
tions were  eager  to  join  the  voyage,  speaks  well  for 
the  sincerity  of  the  new  enthusiasm. 


248         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

Cook  left  England  in  midsummer  of  1776.  He 
sighted  the  Pacific  coast,  northward  of  what  is  now 
San  Francisco,  in  the  spring  of  1778.  Ledyard  was 
the  first  American  to  see  the  land  that  lay  beyond  the 
Rockies.  It  was  not  a  narrow  strip  as  men  had 
thought,  but  a  broad  belt  a  thousand  miles  long  by  a 
thousand  broad,  an  unclaimed  world;  for  storms 
drove  Cook  offshore  here;  and  the  English  discoverer 
did  not  land  till  abreast  of  British  America. 

At  Nootka  thousands  of  Indians  flocked  round  the 
two  vessels  to  trade.  For  some  trinkets  of  glass  beads 
and  iron,  Ledyard  obtained  one  thousand  five  hundred 
skins  for  Cook.  Among  the  Indians,  too,  he  saw 
brass  trinkets,  that  must  have  come  all  the  way  from 
New  Spain  on  the  south,  or  from  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Fur  Company  on  the  east.  What  were  the  merchants 
of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  doing,  that  their  ships 
were  not  here  reaping  a  harvest  of  wealth  in  furs  ?  If 
this  were  the  outermost  bound  of  Louisiana,  Louisiana 
might  some  day  be  a  part  of  the  colonies  now  strug- 
gling for  their  liberties;  and  Ledyard's  imagination 
took  one  of  those  leaps  that  win  a  man  the  reputation 
of  a  fool  among  his  contemporaries,  a  hero  to  future 
generations.  "  If  it  was  necessary  that  a  European 
should  discover  the  existence  of  the  continent,"  he 
afterward  wrote,  "in  the  name  of  Amor  Patrine  let  a 
native  explore  its  resources  and  boundaries.  It  is  my 
wish  to  be  the  man." 

Cook's    ships    passed    north    to    Oonalaska.     Only 


JOHN    LEDYARD  249 

twenty-five  years  before,  the  Indians  of  Oonalaska  had 
massacred  every  white  settlement  on  the  island.  Cook 
wished  to  send  a  message  to  the  Russian  fur  traders. 
Not  many  men  could  be  risked  from  the  ship.  Fired 
with  the  ambition  to  know  more  of  the  coast  which  he 
had  determined  to  explore,  Ledyard  volunteered  to  go 
for  the  Russians  with  two  Indian  guides.  The  pace 
was  set  at  an  ambling  run  over  rocks  that  had  cut 
Ledyard's  boots  to  tatters  before  nightfall.  He  was 
quite  unarmed;  and  just  at  dark  the  way  seemed  to 
end  at  a  sandy  shore,  where  the  waves  were  already 
chopping  over  on  the  rising  tide,  and  spiral  columns  of 
smoke  betrayed  the  underground  mud  huts  of  those 
very  Indian  villages  that  had  massacred  the  Russians  a 
quarter  of  a  century  before.  The  guides  had  dived 
somewhere  underground  and,  while  Ledyard  stood  non- 
plussed, came  running  back  carrying  a  light  skin  boat 
which  they  launched.  It  was  made  of  oiled  walrus 
hide  stretched  like  a  drum  completely  round  whale- 
bones, except  for  two  manholes  in  the  top  for  the 
rowers.  Perpheela,  the  guide,  signalled  Ledyard  to 
embark;  and  before  the  white  man  could  solve  the 
problem  of  how  three  men  were  to  sit  in  two  man- 
holes, he  was  seized  head  and  heels,  and  bundled  clear 
through  a  manhole,  lying  full  length  imprisoned  like 
Jonah  in  the  whale.  Then  the  swish  of  dipping 
paddles,  of  the  cold  waves  above  and  beneath,  shut  out 
by  parchment  thin  as  tissue  paper,  told  Ledyard  that 
he  was  being  carried  out  to  sea,  spite  of  dark  and  storm, 


250         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

in  a  craft  light  as  an  air-blown  bladder,  that  bounced 
forward,  through,  under,  over  the  waves,  undrownable 
as  a  fish. 

There  was  nothing  to  do  but  lie  still.  The  slightest 
motion  might  have  ruptured  the  thin  skin  keel.  On 
he  was  borne  through  the  dark,  the  first  American  in 
history  to  travel  by  a  submarine.  At  the  end  of  what 
seemed  ages  —  it  could  not  have  been  more  than  two 
hours  —  after  a  deal  of  bouncing  to  the  rising  storm 
with  no  sound  but  the  whistling  of  wind  and  rush  of 
mountain  seas,  the  keel  suddenly  grated  pebbles.  Star- 
light came  through  the  vacated  manholes;  but  be- 
fore Ledyard  could  jump  out,  the  boat  was  hoisted  on 
the  shoulders  of  four  men,  and  carried  on  a  run  over- 
land. The  creak  of  a  door  slammed  open.  A  bump 
as  the  boat  dumped  down  to  soft  floor;  and  Ledyard 
was  dazzled  by  a  glare  of  light  to  find  himself  in  the 
mess  room  of  the  Russian  barracks  on  Captain  Harbor, 
in  the  presence  of  two  bearded  Russian  hunters  gasping 
speechless  with  surprise  to  see  a  man  emerging  from 
the  manhole  like  a  newly  hatched  chicken  from  an 

egg- 
Fur  rugs  covered  the  floor,  the  walls,  the  benches, 

the  berth  beds  lining  the  sides  of  the  barnlike  Rus- 
sian barracks.  The  windows  were  of  oiled  bladder 
skin;  the  lamps,  whale-oil  in  stone  basins  with  skin 
for  wick.  Arms  were  stacked  in  the  corner.  The  two 
Russians  had  been  sitting  down  to  a  supper  of  boiled 
salmon,  when  Ledyard  made  his  unannounced  en- 


JOHN    LEDYARD  251 

trance.  By  signs  he  explained  that  Captain  Cook's 
ships  were  at  a  near  harbor  and  that  the  English  com- 
mander desired  to  confer  with  Ismyloff,  chief  factor  of 
the  Russians.  Rising,  kissing  their  hands  ceremo- 
niously as  they  mentioned  the  august  name  and  taking 
off  their  fur  caps,  the  Russians  made  solemn  answer 
that  all  these  parts,  with  a  circumambient  wave, 
belonged  to  the  Empress  of  Russia;  that  they  were  her 
subjects  —  with  more  kissing  of  the  hands.  Russia 
did  not  want  foreigners  spying  on  her  hunting-grounds. 
Nevertheless,  Ledyard  was  given  a  present  of  fresh 
Chinese  silk  underwear,  treated  to  the  hottest  Russian 
brandy  in  the  barracks,  and  put  comfortably  to  bed  on 
a  couch  of  otter  skins.  From  his  bed,  he  saw  the  Ind- 
ians crowd  in  for  evening  services  before  a  little  Rus- 
sian crucifix,  the  two  traders  leading  prayers.  These 
were  the  tribes,  whom  the  Russians  had  hunted  with 
dogs  fifty  years  before;  and  who  in  turn  had  slain  all 
Russians  on  the  Island.  A  better  understanding  now 
prevailed. 

In  the  morning  Ledyard  looked  over  the  fur  estab- 
lishment; galliots,  cannon-mounted  in  the  harbor  for 
refuge  in  case  of  attack;  the  huge  lemon-yellow,  red- 
roofed  store-room  that  might  serve  as  barracks  or  fort 
for  a  hundred  men ;  the  brigades  of  eight,  of  nine,  of 
eleven  hundred  Indian  hunters  sailing  the  surfs  under 

o 

the  leadership  of  Ismyloff,  the  chief  factor.  Oonalaska 
was  the  very  centre  of  the  sea-otter  hunt.  Here, 
eighteen  thousand  otter  a  year  were  taken.  At  once, 


252         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

Ledyard  realized  how  he  could  pay  the  cost  of  explor- 
ing that  unclaimed  world  between  New  Spain  and 
Alaska:  by  turning  fur  trader  as  Radisson,  and  La 
Salle,  and  the  other  explorers  had  done. 

Ismyloff  himself,  who  had  been  out  with  his  brigade 
when  Ledyard  came,  went  to  visit  the  Englishman; 
but  Ismyloff  had  little  to  say,  little  of  Benyowsky,  the 
Polish  pirate,  who  had  marooned  him;  less  of  Alaska; 
and  the  reason  for  taciturnity  was  plain.  The  Russian 
fur  traders  were  forming  a  monopoly.  They  told  no 
secrets  to  the  world.  They  wanted  no  intruders  on 
their  hunting-ground.  Could  Ledyard  have  known 
that  the  surly,  bearded  Russian  was  to  blast  his  new- 
born ambitions;  could  Ismyloff  have  guessed  that  the 
eager,  young,  beardless  corporal  of  marines  was  in- 
directly to  be  the  means  of  wresting  the  Pacific  coast 
from  Russia  —  each  might  have  smiled  at  the  tricks  of 
destiny. 

Ledyard  had  two  more  years  to  serve  in  the  British 
navy  when  he  returned  from  Cook's  voyage.  By  an- 
other trick  of  destiny  he  was  sent  out  on  a  battle  ship 
to  fight  against  his  native  country  in  the  Revolutionary 
War.  It  was  a  time  when  men  wore  patriotic  coats  of 
many  colors.  His  ship  lay  at  anchor  off  Long  Island. 
He  had  not  seen  his  mother  for  seven  years,  but  knew 
that  the  war  had  reduced  her  to  opening  a  lodging 
house  for  British  officers.  Asking  for  a  week's  fur- 
lough, Ledyard  went  ashore,  proceeded  to  his  mother's 


JOHN    LEDYARD  253 

house,  knocked  at  the  door,  and  was  taken  as  a  lodger 
by  her  without  being  recognized,  which  was,  perhaps, 
as  well;  for  the  house  was  full  of  British  spies.  Led- 
yard  waited  till  night.  Then  he  went  to  her  private 
apartments  and  found  her  reading  with  the  broad- 
rimmed,  horn-framed  spectacles  of  those  days.  He 
took  her  hands.  "Look  at  me,"  he  said.  One  glance 
was  enough.  Then  he  shut  the  door;  and  the  door 
remains  shut  to  the  world  on  what  happened  there. 

That  was  the  end  of  British  soldiering  for  Ledyard. 
He  never  returned  to  the  marines.  He  betook  himself 
to  Hartford,  where  he  wrote  an  account  of  Cook's 
voyage.  Then  he  set  himself  to  move  heaven  and 
earth  for  a  ship  to  explore  that  unknown  coast  from 
New  Spain  to  Alaska.  This  was  ten  years  before 
Robert  Gray  of  Boston  had  discovered  the  Colum- 
bia; twenty  years  before  the  United  States  thought 
of  buying  Louisiana,  twenty-five  years  before  Lewis 
and  Clark  reached  the  Pacific.  Many  influences 
worked  against  him.  Times  were  troublous.  The 
country  had  not  recovered  sufficiently  from  the  throes 
of  the  Revolution  to  think  of  expanding  territory. 
Individually  and  collectively,  the  nation  was  des- 
perately poor.  As  for  private  sailing  masters,  they 
smiled  at  Ledyard's  enthusiasm.  An  unclaimed  world  ? 
What  did  they  care  ?  Where  was  the  money  in  a 
venture  to  the  Pacific  ?  When  Ledyard  told  how 
Russia  was  reaping  a  yearly  harvest  of  millions  in  furs, 
even  his  old  friend,  Captain  Deshon,  whose  boat  had 


254          VIKINGS    OF    THE    PACIFIC 

carried  him  to  Plymouth,  grew  chary  of  such  roseate 
prospects.  It  was  characteristic  of  Ledyard  that  the 
harder  the  difficulties  proved,  the  harder  grew  his 
determination  to  overcome.  He  was  up  against  the 
impossible,  and  instead  of  desisting,  gritted  his  teeth, 
determined  to  smash  a  breach  through  the  wall  of  the 
impossible,  or  smash  himself  trying.  For  six  months 
he  besieged  leading  men  in  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia, outlining  his  plans,  meeting  arguments,  giv- 
ing proofs  for  all  he  said  of  Pacific  wealth,  holding 
conference  after  conference.  Robert  Morris  entered 
enthusiastically  into  the  scheme ;  but  what  with 
shipmasters'  reluctance  to  embark  on  such  a  dan- 
gerous voyage  and  the  general  scarcity  of  funds,  the 
patience  of  both  Ledyard  and  Morris  became  ex- 
hausted. Ledyard's  savings  had  meanwhile  dwindled 
down  to  $4.27. 

In  Europe,  Cook's  voyage  was  beginning  to  create 
a  stir.  The  Russian  government  had  projected  an 
expedition  to  the  Pacific  under  Joseph  Billings,  Cook's 
assistant  astronomer.  These  Russian  plans  aimed  at 
no  less  than  dominance  on  the  Pacific.  Forts  were 
to  be  built  in  California  and  Hawaii.  In  England  and 
India,  private  adventurers,  Portlock,  Dixon,  Meares, 
Barclay,  were  fitting  out  ships  for  Pacific  trade.  Some 
one  advised  Ledyard  to  attempt  his  venture  in  the 
country  that  had  helped  America  in  the  Revolution, 
France;  and  to  France  he  sailed  with  money  loaned  by 
Mr.  Sands  of  New  York,  in  1784. 


JOHN    LEDYARD  255 

In  Paris  Ledyard  met  two  of  the  most  remarkable 
men  in  American  history,  Paul  Jones,  the  naval  hero, 
and  Jefferson.  To  them  both  he  told  the  marvels  of 
Pacific  wealth,  and  both  were  far-sighted  enough  to 
share  his  dreams.  It  was  now  that  Jefferson  began 
to  formulate  those  plans  that  Lewis  and  Clark  after- 
ward carried  out.  The  season  was  too  late  for  a 
voyage  this  year,  but  Paul  Jones  loaned  Ledyard 
money  and  arranged  to  take  out  a  ship  of  four  hundred 
tons  the  following  year.  The  two  actually  went  over 
every  detail  together.  Jones  was  to  carry  the  furs  to 
China,  Ledyard  with  assistants,  surgeon,  and  twenty 
soldiers  to  remain  at  the  fur  post  and  explore. 

But  Paul  Jones  was  counting  on  the  support  of  the 
American  government;  and  when  he  found  that  the 
government  considered  Ledyard's  promises  visionary, 
he  threw  the  venture  over  in  a  pique. 

Was  Ledyard  beaten  ?  Jefferson  and  he  talked 
over  the  project  day  after  day.  Ledyard  was  willing 
to  tramp  it  across  the  two  Siberias  on  foot,  and  to 
chance  over  the  Pacific  Ocean  in  a  Russian  fur-trading 
vessel,  if  Jefferson  could  obtain  permission  from  the 
Russian  Empress.  Meanwhile,  true  soldier  of  fortune, 
without  money,  or  influence,  he  lived  on  terms  of  in- 
timacy with  the  fashion  of  Paris. 

"I  have  but  five  French  crowns,"  he  wrote  a  friend. 
"The  Fitzhughes  (fellow-roomers)  haven't  money  for 
tobacco.  Such  a  set  of  moneyless  rascals  never 


256         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

appeared  since  the  days  of  Falstaff."  Again  —  "Sir 
James  Hall,  on  his  way  from  Paris  to  Cherbourg, 
stopped  his  coach  at  our  door.  I  was  in  bed,  but 
having  flung  on  my  robe  de  chambre,  met  him  at  the 
door.  ...  In  walking  across  the  chamber,  he  laugh- 
ingly put  his  hand  on  a  six  livre  piece  and  a  louis  d'or 
on  my  table,  and  with  a  blush  asked  me  how  I  was  in 
the  money  way.  Blushes  beget  blushes.  'If  fifteen 
guineas,'  said  he,  'will  be  of  any  service  to  you,  here 
they  are.  You  have  my  address  in  London.' ' 

While  waiting  the  passports  from  the  Empress  of 
Russia,  he  was  invited  by  Sir  James  Hall  to  try  his 
luck  in  England.  The  very  daring  of  the  wild  attempt 
to  cross  Siberia  and  America  alone  appealed  to  the  Eng- 
lish. Half  a  dozen  men,  friends  of  Cook,  took  the  ven- 
ture up,  and  Ledyard  found  himself  in  the  odd  position 
of  being  offered  a  boat  by  the  country  whose  navy  he 
had  deserted.  Perhaps  because  of  that  desertion  all 
news  of  the  project  was  kept  very  quiet.  A  small  ship 
had  slipped  down  the  Thames  for  equipments,  when  the 
government  got  wind  of  it.  Whether  the  great  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company  of  England  opposed  the  expedi- 
tion as  intrusion  on  its  fur  preserve,  or  the  English 
government  objected  to  an  American  conducting  the 
exploration  for  the  expansion  of  American  territory, 
the  ship  was  ordered  back,  and  Ledyard  was  in  no 
position  to  confront  the  English  authorities.  Again 
he  was  checkmated,  and  fell  back  on  Jefferson's  plan 
to  cross  the  two  Siberias  on  foot,  and  chance  it  over 


JOHN    LEDYARD  257 

the  Pacific.  His  friends  in  London  gathered  enough 
money  to  pay  his  way  to  St.  Petersburg. 

January  of  1787  saw  him  in  Sweden  seeking  passage 
across  the  Baltic.  Usually  the  trip  to  St.  Petersburg 
was  made  by  dog  sleighs  across  the  ice.  This  year 
the  season  had  been  so  open,  neither  boats  nor  dog 
trains  could  be  hired  to  make  the  trip.  Ledyard  was 
now  thirty-six  years  old,  and  the  sum  of  his  efforts 
totalled  to  a  zero.  The  first  twenty-five  years  of  his 
life  he  had  wasted  trying  to  fit  his  life  to  other  men's 
patterns.  The  last  five  years  he  had  wasted  waiting 
for  other  men  to  act,  men  in  New  York,  in  Philadelphia, 
in  Paris,  in  London,  to  give  him  a  ship.  He  had  done 
with  waiting,  with  dependence  on  others.  When  boats 
and  dog  trains  failed  him  now,  he  muffled  himself  in 
wolfskins  to  his  neck,  flung  a  knapsack  on  his  back, 
and  set  out  in  midwinter  to  tramp  overland  six  hundred 
miles  north  to  Tornea  at  the  head  of  the  Baltic,  six 
hundred  miles  south  from  Tornea,  through  Finland 
to  St.  Petersburg.  Snow  fell  continually.  Storms 
raged  in  from  the  sea.  The  little  villages  of  northern 

o  o 

Sweden  and  Finland  were  buried  in  snow  to  the  chim- 
ney-tops. Wherever  he  happened  to  be  at  nightfall, 
he  knocked  at  the  door  of  a  fisherman's  hut.  Wherever 
he  was  taken  in,  he  slept,  whether  on  the  bare  floor 
before  the  hearth,  or  among  the  dogs  of  the  outhouses, 
or  in  the  hay-lofts  of  the  cattle  sheds.  No  more  wait- 
ing for  Ledyard !  Storm  or  shine,  early  and  late,  he 


258         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

tramped  two  hundred  miles  a  week  for  seven  weeks 
from  the  time  he  left  Stockholm.  When  he  marched 
into  St.  Petersburg  on  the  iQth  of  March,  men  hardly 
knew  whether  to  regard  him  as  a  madman  or  a  won- 
der. Using  the  names  of  Jefferson  and  Lafayette,  he 
jogged  up  the  Russian  authorities  by  another  appli- 
cation for  the  passport.  The  passport  was  long  in 
coming.  How  was  Ledyard  to  know  that  Ismyloff, 
the  Russian  fur  trader,  whom  he  had  met  in  Oona- 
laska,  had  written  letters  stirring  up  the  Russian  gov- 
ernment to  jealous  resentment  against  all  comers  to 
the  Pacific  ?  Ledyard  was  mad  with  impatience. 
Days  slipped  into  weeks,  weeks  into  months,  and  no 
passport  came.  He  was  out  of  clothes,  out  of  money, 
out  of  food.  A  draft  on  his  English  friends  kept  him 
from  destitution.  Just  a  year  before,  Billings,  the 
astronomer  of  Cook's  vessel,  had  gone  across  Siberia 
on  the  way  to  America  for  the  Russian  government. 
If  Ledyard  could  only  catch  up  to  Billings's  expedition, 
that  might  be  a  chance  to  cross  the  Pacific.  As  if  to 
exasperate  his  impatience  still  more,  he  met  a  Scotch 
physician,  a  Dr.  William  Brown,  now  setting  out  for 
Siberia  on  imperial  business,  who  offered  to  carry  him 
along  free  for  three  thousand  of  the  seven  thousand 
miles  to  the  Pacific.  Perhaps  the  proceeds  of  that 
English  draft  helped  him  with  the  slow  Russian  author- 
ities, but  at  last,  on  June  I,  he  had  his  passport,  and 
was  off  with  Dr.  Brown.  His  entire  earthly  posses- 
sions at  this  time  consisted  of  a  few  guineas,  a  suit  of 


JOHN    LEDYARD  259 

clothes,  and  large  debts.  What  was  the  crack-brained 
enthusiast  aiming  at  anyway  ?  An  empire  half  the 
present  size  of  the  United  States. 

From  St.  Petersburg  to  Moscow  in  six  days,  drawn 
by  three  horses  at  breakneck  pace,  from  Moscow  to 
Kazan  through  the  endless  forests,  on  to  the  Volga, 
Brown  and  Ledyard  hastened.  By  the  autumn  they 
were  across  the  Barbary  Desert,  three  thousand  miles 
from  St.  Petersburg.  Here  Brown  remained,  and 
Ledyard  went  on  with  the  Cossack  mail  carriers.  All 
along  the  endless  trail  of  two  continents,  the  trail  of 
East  and  West,  he  passed  the  caravans  of  the  Russian 
fur  traders,  and  learned  the  astonishing  news  that  more 
than  two  thousand  Russians  were  on  the  west  coast  of 
America.  Down  the  Lena  next,  to  Yakutsk,  the 
great  rendezvous  of  the  fur  traders,  only  one  thousand 
miles  more  to  the  Pacific;  and  on  the  great  plain  of 
the  fur  traders  near  Yakutsk  he  at  last  overtook  the 
Billings  explorers  on  their  way  to  America.  Only  one 
guinea  was  left  in  his  pocket,  and  the  Cossack  com- 
mandant reported  that  the  season  was  too  far  advanced 
for  him  to  cross  the  Pacific.  What  did  it  matter  ?  He 
would  cross  the  Pacific  with  Billings  in  spring.  He 
was  nearer  the  realization  of  his  hopes  than  ever  before 
in  his  life;  and  surely  his  success  in  tramping  twice 
the  length  of  Sweden,  and  in  crossing  two  continents 
when  almost  destitute  augured  well  for  his  success  in 
crossing  from  the  Pacific  to  the  Missouri. 

Not  for  a  moment  was  his  almost  childlike  confidence 


260         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

disturbed  by  a  suspicion  of  bad  faith,  of  intentional 
delay  in  issuing  the  passports,  of  excuses  to  hold  him 
back  at  Yakutsk  till  the  jealous  fur  traders  could  send 
secret  complaints  to  St.  Petersburg.  Much  less  was 
he  suspicious  when  Billings,  his  old  friend  of  Cook's 
voyage,  himself  arrived,  and  invited  him  on  a  sled 
journey  of  exploration  up  the  Lena  while  waiting.1 

On  sledges  he  went  up  the  Lena  River  with  a  party 
of  explorers.  On  the  night  of  February  24  two  or 
three  of  the  officers  and  Ledyard  were  sitting  in  the 
mess  room  of  Irkutsk  playing  cards.  They  might 
laugh  at  Ledyard.  They  also  laughed  with  him. 
Wherever  he  went,  went  gayety.  Gales  of  boisterous 
laughter  were  on  the  wind.  Hopes  as  tenuous  as  the 
wind  were  in  the  air.  One  of  the  great  Bering's  sons 
was  there,  no  doubt  telling  tales  of  discovery  that  set 
each  man's  veins  jumping.  Suddenly  a  tremendous 
jingling  of  bells  announced  some  midnight  arrival  post- 
haste at  the  barracks'  door.  Before  the  card  players 
had  risen  from  their  places,  two  Cossacks  had  burst 
into  the  room  stamping  snow  from  their  feet.  March- 
ing straight  over  to  Ledyard,  they  seized  him  roughly 
by  the  arms  and  arrested  him  for  a  French  spy,  dis- 
playing the  Empress's  written  orders,  brought  all  the 
way  from  St.  Petersburg.  To  say  that  Ledyard  was 
dumfounded  is  putting  it  mildly.  Every  man  in  the 
room  knew  that  he  was  not  a  French  spy.  Every  man 

1  In  Sauer'8  account  of  the  Billings  Expedition,  some  excuse  is  given  for  the  con- 
duct of  Billings  on  the  ground  that  Ledyard  had  been  insolent  to  the  Russians. 


JOHN    LEDYARD  261 

in  the  room  knew  that  the  arrest  was  a  farce,  instigated 
by  the  jealous  fur  traders  whom  Ismyloff's  lying 
letters  had  aroused.  For  just  a  second  Ledyard  lost 
his  head  and  called  on  Billings  as  a  man  of  honor  to 
confute  the  charge.  However  Ledyard  might  lose  his 
head,  Billings  was  not  willing  to  lose  his.  He  advised 
Ledyard  not  to  provoke  conflict  with  the  Russian 
authorities,  but  to  go  back  to  St.  Petersburg  and  dis- 
prove the  charge.  Was  it  a  case  of  one  explorer  being 
jealous  of  another,  or  had  Billings  played  Ledyard 
into  the  fur  traders'  trap  ?  That  will  never  be  known. 
Certain  it  is,  Billings  made  mess  enough  of  his  own 
expedition  to  go  down  to  posterity  as  a  failure.  Some 
of  the  officers  ran  to  get  Ledyard  a  present  of  clothes 
and  money.  As  he  jumped  into  the  waiting  sledge  and 
looked  back  over  his  shoulder  at  the  group  of  faces 
smiling  in  the  lighted  doorway,  he  burst  into  a  laugh, 
but  it  was  the  laugh  of  an  embittered  man,  whose  life 
had  crumbled  to  ruin  at  one  blow.  The  Cossacks 
whipped  up  the  horses,  and  he  was  off  on  the  long 
trail  back,  five  thousand  miles,  every  mile  a  sign  post 
of  blasted  hopes.  Without  a  word  of  explanation  or 
the  semblance  of  a  trial  on  the  false  charge,  he  was 
banished  out  of  St.  Petersburg  on  pain  of  death  if  he 
returned. 

Ragged,  destitute,  the  best  years  of  his  life  gone,  he 
reached  London,  heartbroken.  "I  give  up,"  he  told 
the  English  friends,  who  had  backed  him  with  money, 
and  what  was  better  than  money  —  faith.  "  I  give  up," 


26i         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

he  wrote  Jefferson,  who  afterward  had  Lewis  and 
Clark  carry  out  Ledyard's  plans. 

The  men  of  the  African  Geographical  Society  in 
London  tried  to  cheer  him.  When  could  he  set  out 
to  explore  the  source  of  the  Nile  for  them  ? 

"To-morrow,"  answered  Ledyard,  with  the  heed- 
lessness  of  one  who  has  lost  grip  on  life.  The  salary 
advanced  paid  off  the  moss-grown  debts  of  his  dis- 
appointed past,  but  he  never  reached  the  scene  of  his 
new  venture.  He  died  on  the  way  at  Cairo,  in  No- 
vember, 1788,  for  all  hope  had  already  died  in  his 
heart.  The  world  that  has  entered  into  the  heritage 
of  his  aims  has  forgotten  Ledyard  ;  for  the  public  ac- 
claims only  the  heroes  of  success,  and  he  was  a  hero 
of  defeat.  All  that  Lewis  and  Clark  succeeded  in 
doing  for  the  West,  backed  by  the  prestige  of  govern- 
ment, Ledyard,  the  penniless  soldier  of  fortune,  had 
foreseen  and  planned  with  Jefferson  in  the  attic  apart- 
ments of  Paris.1 

1  Ledyard's  Journal  of  Cook's  Last  foyage,  Hartford,  1783,  and  Sparks's  Life  of 
Ltdyard,  Cambridge,  1829. 


CHAPTER   X 

1779-1794 

GEORGE   VANCOUVER,   LAST   OF   PACIFIC   COAST 
EXPLORERS 

Activities  of  Americans,  Spanish,  and  Russians  on  the  West  Coast  of 
America  arouse  England  —  Vancouver  is  sent  out  ostensibly  to 
settle  the  Quarrel  between  Fur  Traders  and  Spanish  Governors  at 
Nootka  —  Incidentally,  he  is  to  complete  the  Exploration  of 
America's  West  Coast  and  take  Possession  for  England  of  Un- 
claimed Territory  —  The  Myth  of  a  Northeast  Passage  dispelled 
forever 

WITH  Gray's  entrance  of  the  Columbia,  the  great 
drama  of  discovery  on  the  northwest  coast  of 
America  was  drawing  to  a  close. 

After  the  death  of  Bering  on  the  Commander  Islands, 
and  of  Cook  at  Hawaii,  while  on  voyages  to  prove 
there  was  no  Northeast  Passage,  no  open  waterway 
between  Pacific  and  Atlantic,  it  seems  impossible  that 
the  myth  of  an  open  sea  from  Asia  to  Europe  could 
still  delude  men ;  but  it  was  in  hunting  for  China  that 
Columbus  found  America;  and  it  was  in  hunting  for 
a  something  that  had  no  existence  except  in  the  foolish 
theories  of  the  schoolmen  that  the  whole  northwest 
coast  of  America  was  exploited. 

263 


264          VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

Bering  had  been  called  "coward"  for  not  sailing 
through  a  solid  continent.  Cook  was  accused  of  fur 
trading,  "pottering  in  peltries,"  to  the  neglect  of  dis- 
covery, because  his  crews  sold  their  sea-otter  at  profit. 
To  be  sure,  the  combined  results  of  Bering's  and 
Cook's  voyages  proved  there  was  no  waterway  through 
Alaska  to  the  Atlantic;  but  in  addition  to  blackening 
the  reputations  of  the  two  great  navigators  in  order 
to  throw  discredit  on  their  conclusions,  the  schoolmen 
bellicosely  demanded  —  Might  there  not  be  a  passage 
south  of  Alaska,  between  Russia's  claim  on  the  north 
and  Spain's  on  the  south  ?  Both  Bering  and  Cook 
had  been  driven  out  from  this  section  of  the  coast  by 
gales.  This  left  a  thousand  miles  of  American  coast 
unexplored.  Cook  had  said  there  were  no  Straits  of 
Fuca,  of  which  the  old  Greek  pilot  in  the  service  of 
New  Spain  had  told  legends  of  fictitious  voyages  two 
centuries  before;  yet  Barclay,  an  East  India  English 
trader,  had  been  up  those  very  straits.  So  had 
Meares,  another  trader.  So  had  Kendrick  and  Gray, 
the  two  Americans.  This  was  the  very  section  which 
Bering  and  Cook  had  left  untouched;  and  who  could 
tell  where  these  straits  might  lead  ?  They  were  like 
a  second  Mediterranean.  Meares  argued  they  might 
connect  with  Hudson  Bay. 

Then  Spain  had  forced  matters  to  a  climax  by 
seizing  Meares's  vessels  and  fort  at  Nootka  as  contra- 
band. That  had  only  one  meaning:  Spain  was  trying 
to  lay  hands  on  everything  from  New  Spain  to  Russian 


Captain  George  Vancouver. 


GEORGE   VANCOUVER  265 

territory  on  the  north.  If  Spain  claimed  all  north  to 
the  Straits  of  Fuca,  and  Russia  claimed  all  south  to 
the  Straits  of  Fuca,  where  was  England's  claim  of 
New  Albion  discovered  by  Sir  Francis  Drake,  and  of 
all  that  coast  which  Cook  had  sighted  round  Nootka  ? 
Captain  George  Vancouver,  formerly  midshipman 
with  Cook,  was  summoned  post-haste  by  the  British 
Admiralty.  Ostensibly,  his  mission  was  to  receive 
back  at  Nootka  all  the  lands  which  the  Spaniards 
had  taken  from  Meares,  the  trader.  Really,  he  was 
to  explore  the  coast  from  New  Spain  on  the  south,  to 
Russian  America  on  the  north,  and  to  hold  that  coast 
for  England.  That  Spain  had  already  explored  the 
islands  of  this  coast  was  a  mere  detail.  There  re- 
mained the  continental  shore  still  to  be  explored. 
Besides,  Spain  had  not  followed  up  her  explorations 
by  possession.  She  had  kept  her  navigations  secret. 
In  many  cases  her  navigators  had  not  even  landed. 

Vancouver  was  still  in  his  prime,  under  forty.  Serv- 
ing in  the  navy  from  boyhood,  he  had  all  a  practical 
seaman's  contempt  for  theories.  This  contempt  was 
given  point  by  the  world's  attitude  toward  Cook. 
Vancouver  had  been  on  the  spot  with  Cook.  He 
knew  there  was  no  Northeast  Passage.  Cook  had 
proved  that.  Yet  the  world  refused  credence. 

For  the  practical  navigator  there  remained  only  one 
course,  and  that  course  became  the  one  aim,  the  con- 
suming ambition  of  Vancouver's  life  —  to  destroy  the 


266         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

last  vestige  of  the  myth  of  a  Northeast  Passage;  to 
explore  the  northwest  coast  of  America  so  thoroughly 
there  would  not  remain  a  single  unknown  inlet  that 
could  be  used  as  a  possible  prop  for  the  schoolmen's 
theories,  to  penetrate  every  inlet  from  California 
to  Alaska  —  mainland  and  island;  to  demonstrate 
that  not  one  possible  opening  led  to  the  Atlantic. 
This  was  to  be  the  object  of  Vancouver's  life,  and  he 
carried  it  out  with  a  thoroughness  that  left  nothing 
for  subsequent  explorers  to  do;  but  he  died  before  the 
record  of  his  voyages  had  been  given  to  the  world. 

The  two  ships,  Discovery  and  Chatham,  with  a 
supply  ship,  the  Dadalus,  to  follow  later,  were  fitted 
out  for  long  and  thorough  work.  Vancouver's  vessel, 
the  Discovery,  carried  twenty  guns  with  a  crew  of  a 
hundred  men.  The  tender,  Chatham,  under  Brough- 
ton,  had  ten  guns  and  forty-five  men.  With  Van- 
couver went  Menzies,  and  Puget,  and  Baker,  and 
Johnstone  —  names  that  were  to  become  place  marks 
on  the  Pacific.  The  Discovery  and  Chatham  left  Eng- 
land in  the  spring  of  1791.  A  year  later  found  them 
cutting  the  waves  from  Hawaii  for  America,  the  New 
Albion  of  Drake's  discovery,  forgotten  by  England 
until  Spain's  activity  stimulated  memory  of  the  pirate 
voyage. 

A  swashing  swell  met  the  ships  as  they  neared  Amer- 
ica. Phosphorescent  lights  blue  as  sulphur  flame  slimed 
the  sea  in  a  trail  of  rippling  fire;  and  a  land  bird, 
washed  out  by  the  waves,  told  of  New  Albion's  shore. 


GEORGE   VANCOUVER  267 

For  the  first  two  weeks  of  April,  the  Discovery  and 
Chatham  had  driven  under  cloud  of  sail  and  sunny 
skies;  but  on  the  i6th,  just  when  the  white  fret  of  reefs 
ahead  forewarned  land,  heavy  weather  settled  over 
the  ships.  To  the  fore,  bare,  majestic,  compact  as  a 
wall,  the  coast  of  New  Albion  towered  out  of  the  surf 
near  Mendocino.  Cheers  went  up  from  the  lookout 
for  the  landfall  of  Francis  Drake's  discovery.  Then 
torrents  of  rain  washed  out  surf  and  shore.  The  hurri- 
cane gales,  that  had  driven  all  other  navigators  out  to 
sea  from  this  coast,  now  lashed  Vancouver.  Such 
smashing  seas  swept  over  decks,  that  masts,  sails, 
railings,  were  wrenched  away. 

Was  it  ill-luck  or  destiny,  that  caught  Vancouver 
in  this  gale  ?  If  he  had  not  been  driven  offshore 
here,  he  might  have  been  just  two  weeks  before  Gray 
on  the  Columbia,  and  made  good  England's  claim  of 
all  territory  between  New  Spain  and  Alaska.  When 
the  weather  cleared  on  April  27,  the  ocean  was  turgid, 
plainly  tinged  river-color  by  inland  waters;  but  ground 
swell  of  storm  and  tide  rolled  across  the  shelving  sand- 
bars. Not  a  notch  nor  an  opening  breached  through 
the  flaw  of  the  horizon  from  the  ocean  to  the  source  of 
the  shallow  green.  Vancouver  was  too  far  offshore  to 
see  that  there  really  was  a  break  in  the  surf  wash.  He 
thought  —  and  thought  rightly  —  this  was  the  place 
where  the  trader,  Meares,  had  hoped  to  find  the  great 
River  of  the  West,  only  to  be  disappointed  and  to  name 
the  point  Cape  Disappointment.  Vancouver  was 


268          VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

not  to  be  fooled  by  any  such  fanciful  theories.  "Not 
considering  this  opening  worthy  of  more  attention," 
he  writes,  "  I  continued  to  the  northwest."  He  had 
missed  the  greatest  honor  that  yet  remained  for  any 
discoverer  on  the  Pacific.  Within  two  weeks  Gray, 
the  American,  heading  back  to  these  baffling  tides  with 
a  dogged  persistence  that  won  its  own  glory,  was  to 
succeed  in  passing  the  breakers  and  discovering  the 
Columbia.  As  the  calm  permitted  approach  to  the 
shore  again,  forests  appeared  through  the  haze  —  that 
soft,  velvet,  caressing  haze  of  the  dreamy,  lazily  swell- 
ing Pacific  —  forests  of  fir  and  spruce  and  pine  and 
cypress,  in  all  the  riot  of  dank  spring  growth,  a  dense 
tangle  of  windfall  and  underbrush  and  great  vines 
below,  festooned  with  the  light  green  stringy  mosses 
of  cloud  line  overhead  and  almost  impervious  to  sun- 
light. Myriad  wild  fowl  covered  the  sea.  The  coast 
became  beetling  precipice,  that  rolled  inland  forest- 
clad  to  mountains  jagging  ragged  peaks  through  the 
clouds.  This  was  the  Olympus  Range,  first  noticed 
by  Meares,  and  to-day  seen  for  miles  out  at  sea  like  a 
ridge  of  opalescent  domes  suspended  in  mid-heaven. 

Vancouver  was  gliding  into  the  Straits  of  Fuca  when 
the  slender  colors  of  a  far  ship  floated  above  the  blue 
horizon  outward  bound.  Another  wave-roll,  and  the 
flag  was  seen  to  be  above  full-blown  sails  and  a  square- 
hulled,  trim  little  trader  of  America.  At  six  in  the 
morning  of  April  29,  the  American  saluted  with  a 


GEORGE   VANCOUVER 


269 


cannon-shot.  Vancouver  answered  with  a  charge 
from  his  decks,  rightly  guessing  this  was  Robert  Gray 
on  the  Columbia. 

Puget  and  Menzies  were  sent  to  inquire  about 
Gray's  cruise.  They  brought  back  word  that  Gray  had 
been  fifty  miles  up  the  Straits  of  Fuca ;  arid  —  most 


The  Columbia  in  a  Squall. 

astounding  to  Vancouver's  ambitions  —  that  the  Ameri- 
can had  been  off  the  mouth  of  a  river  south  of  the 
straits  at  46°  10',  where  the  tide  prevented  entrance 
for  nine  days.  "The  river  Mr.  Gray  mentioned," 
says  Vancouver,  "should  be  south  of  Cape  Disap- 
pointment. This  we  passed  on  the  forenoon  of  the 
zyth ;  and  if  any  inlet  or  river  be  found,  it  must  be  a 


270          VIKINGS  OF  THE   PACIFIC 

very  intricate  one,  inaccessible  .  .  .  owing  to  reefs 
and  broken  water.  ...  I  was  thoroughly  convinced, 
as  were  most  persons  on  board,  that  we  could  not  pos- 
sibly have  passed  any  cape  .  .  .  from  Mendocino  to 
Classet  (Flattery)." 

Keen  to  prove  that  no  Northeast  Passage  existed  by 
way  of  the  Straits  of  Fuca,  Vancouver  headed  inland, 
close  to  the  south  shore,  where  craggy  heights  offered 
some  guidance  through  the  labyrinth  of  islands  and  fog. 
Eight  miles  inside  the  straits  he  anchored  for  the  night. 
The  next  morning  the  sun  rose  over  one  of  the  fairest 
scenes  of  the  Pacific  coast  —  an  arm  of  the  sea  placid 
as  a  lake,  gemmed  by  countless  craggy  islands.  On 
the  land  side  were  the  forested  valleys  rolling  in  to 
the  purple  folds  of  the  mountains ;  and  beyond,  east- 
ward, dazzling  as  a  huge  shield  of  fire  in  the  sunrise, 
a  white  mass  whiter  than  the  whitest  clouds,  swimming 
aerially  in  mid-heaven.  Lieutenant  Baker  was  the 
first  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  vision  for  which  every 
western  traveller  now  watches,  the  famous  peak  seen 
by  land  or  sea  for  hundreds  of  miles,  the  playground 
of  the  jagged  green  lightnings  on  the  hot  summer 
nights ;  and  the  peak  was  named  after  him  —  Mount 
Baker. 

For  the  first  time  in  history  white  men's  boats  plied 
the  waters  of  the  great  inland  sea  now  variously  known 
as  Admiralty  Inlet,  Puget  Sound,  Hood  Canal.  There 
must  be  no  myth  of  a  Northeast  Passage  left  lurking 
in  any  of  the  many  inlets  of  this  spider-shaped  sea. 


GEORGE    VANCOUVER  271 

Vancouver,  Menzies,  Puget,  and  Johnstone  set  out  in 
the  small  boats  to  penetrate  every  trace  of  water  passage. 
Instead  of  leading  northeast,  the  tangled  maze  of  for- 
est-hidden channels  meandered  southward.  Savages 
swarmed  over  the  water,  paddling  round  and  round 
the  white  men,  for  all  the  world  like  birds  of  prey  cir- 
cling for  a  chance  to  swoop  at  the  first  unguarded 
moment.  Tying  trinkets  to  pieces  of  wood,  Puget  let 
the  gifts  float  back  as  peace-ofFerings  to  woo  good  will. 
The  effect  was  what  softness  always  is  to  an  Indian 
spoiling  for  a  fight,  an  incentive  to  boldness.  When 
Puget  landed  for  noon  meal,  a  score  of  redskins  lined 
up  ashore  and  began  stringing  their  bows  for  action. 
Puget  drew  a  line  along  the  sand  with  his  cutlass  and 
signalled  the  warriors  to  keep  back.  They  scrambled 
out  of  his  reach  with  a  great  clatter.  It  only  needed 
some  fellow  bolder  than  the  rest  to  push  across  the  line, 
and  massacre  would  begin.  Puget  did  not  wait.  By 
way  of  putting  the  fear  of  the  Lord  and  respect  for  the 
white  man  in  the  heart  of  the  Indian,  he  trained  the 
swivel  of  the  small  boat  landward,  and  fired  in  midair. 
The  result  was  instant.  Weapons  were  dropped. 
On  Monday,  midday,  June  4,  Vancouver  and  Brough- 
ton  landed  at  Point  Possession.  Officers  drew  up  in 
line.  The  English  flag  was  unfurled,  a  royal  salute 
fired,  and  possession  taken  of  all  the  coast  of  New 
Albion  from  latitude  39  to  the  Straits  of  Fuca,  which 
Vancouver  named  Gulf  of  Georgia.  Just  a  month 
before,  Gray,  the  American,  had  preceded  this  act  of 


272          VIKINGS    OF   THE    PACIFIC 

possession  by  a  similar  ceremony  for  the  United  States 
on  the  banks  of  the  Columbia. 


The  sum  total  of  Vancouver's  work  so  far  had  been 
the  exploration  of  Puget  Sound,  which  is  to  the  West 
what  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  is  to  the  East.  For 
Puget  Sound  and  its  allied  waters  he  had  done  exactly 
what  Cartier  accomplished  for  the  Atlantic  side  of 
America.  His  next  step  was  to  learn  if  the  Straits  of 
Fuca  leading  northward  penetrated  America  and  came 
out  on  the  Atlantic  side.  That  is  what  the  old  Greek 
pilot  in  the  service  of  New  Spain,  Juan  de  Fuca,  had 
said  some  few  years  after  Drake  and  Cavendish  had 
been  out  on  the  coast  of  California. 

Though  Vancouver  explored  the  Pacific  coast  more 
thoroughly  than  all  the  other  navigators  who  had  pre- 
ceded him,  —  so  thoroughly,  indeed,  that  nothing  was 
left  to  be  done  by  the  explorers  who  came  after  him, 
and  modern  surveys  have  been  unable  to  improve  upon 
his  charts,  —  it  seemed  his  ill-luck  to  miss  by  just  a 
hair's  breadth  the  prizes  he  coveted.  He  had  missed 
the  discovery  of  the  Columbia.  He  was  now  to  miss 
the  second  largest  river  of  the  Northwest,  the  Fraser. 
He  had  hoped  to  be  the  first  to  round  the  Straits  of 
Fuca,  disproving  the  assumption  that  they  led  to  the 
Atlantic;  and  he  came  on  the  spot  only  to  learn  that 
the  two  English  traders,  Meares  and  Barclay,  the  two 
Americans,  Kendrick  and  Gray,  and  two  Spaniards, 
Don  Galiano  and  Don  Valdes,  had  already  proved 


GEORGE   VANCOUVER  273 

practically  that  this  part  of  the  coast  was  a  large 
island,  and  the  Straits  of  Fuca  an  arm  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean. 

Fifty  Indians,  in  the  long  dugouts,  of  grotesquely 
carved  prows  and  gaudy  paint  common  among  Pacific 
tribes,  escorted  Vancouver's  boats  northward  the 
second  week  in  June  through  the  labyrinthine  passage- 
ways of  cypress-grown  islets  to  Burrard  Inlet.  To 
Peter  Puget  was  assigned  the  work  of  coasting  the  main- 
land side  and  tracing  every  inlet  to  its  head  waters. 
Johnstone  went  ahead  in  a  small  boat  to  reconnoitre 
the  way  out  of  the  Pacific.  On  both  sides  the  shores 
now  rose  in  beetling  precipice  and  steep  mountains, 
down  which  foamed  cataracts  setting  the  echo  of 
myriad  bells  tinkling  through  the  wilds.  The  sea 
was  tinged  with  milky  sediment;  but  fog  hung  thick 
as  a  blanket;  and  Vancouver  passed  on  north  without 
seeing  Fraser  River.  A  little  farther  on,  toward  the 
end  of  June,  he  was  astonished  to  meet  a  Spanish  brig 
and  schooner  exploring  the  straits.  Don  Galiano  and 
Don  Valdes  told  him  of  the  Fraser,  which  he  had  missed, 
and  how  the  Straits  of  Fuca  led  out  to  the  North  Pacific. 
They  had  also  been  off  Puget  Sound,  but  had  not  gone 
inland,  and  brought  Vancouver  word  that  Don  Quadra, 
the  Spanish  emissary,  sent  to  restore  to  England  the 
fort  from  which  Meares,  the  trader,  had  been  ousted, 
had  arrived  at  Nootka  on  the  other  side  of  the  island, 
and  was  waiting.  The  explorers  all  proceeded  up  the 
straits  together;  but  the  little  Spanish  crafts  were  unable 


274 


VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 


to  keep  abreast  of  the  big  English  vessels,  so  with  a 
friendly  cheer  from  both  sides,  the  English  went  on 
alone. 

Strange  Indian  villages  lined  the  beetling  heights  of 
the  straits.  The  houses,  square  built  and  of  log  slabs, 
row  on  row,  like  the  streets  of  the  white  man,  were 


The  Discovery  on  the  Rocks. 

situated  high  on  isolated  rocks,  inaccessible  to  approach 
except  by  narrow  planking  forming  a  causeway  from 
rock  walls  across  the  sea  to  the  branches  of  a  tree. 
In  other  places  rope  ladders  formed  the  only  path 
to  the  aerial  dwellings,  or  the  zigzag  trail  up  the  steep 
face  of  a  rock  down  which  defenders  could  hurl  stones. 
Howe's  Sound,  Jervis  Canal,  Bute  Inlet,  were  passed; 


GEORGE   VANCOUVER  275 

and  in  July  Johnstone  came  back  with  news  he    had 
found  a  narrow  channel  out  to  the  Pacific. 

The  straits  narrowed  to  less  than  half  a  mile  with 
such  a  terrific  tide  wash  that  on  Sunday,  July  29,  the 
ships  failed  to  answer  to  the  helm  and  waves  seventeen 
feet  high  dashed  over  decks.  Progress  was  made  by 
hauling  the  boats  alongshore  with  ropes  braced  round 
trees.  By  the  first  of  August  a  dense  fog  swept  in 
from  the  sea.  The  Discovery  crashed  on  a  sunken 
rock,  heeling  over  till  her  sails  were  within  three  inches 
of  water.  Ballast  was  thrown  overboard,  and  the  next 
tide-rush  lifted  her.  By  August  19  Vancouver  had 
proved  —  if  any  doubt  remained  —  that  no  Northeast 
Passage  was  to  be  found  by  way  of  the  Straits  of  Fuca.1 
Then,  veering  out  to  sea  at  midnight  through  squalls 

1  The  legend  of  Juan  de  Fuca  became  current  about  1592,  as  issued  in  Samuel 
Purcbai  Pilgrims  in  1625,  Vol.  Ill  :  "A  note  made  by  Michael  Lok,  the  elder, 
touching  the  strait  of  sea  commonly  called  Fretum  Anian  in  the  South  Sea  through  the 
North- West  Passage  of  Meta  Incognita."  Lok  met  in  Venice,  in  April,  1596,  an 
old  man  called  Juan  de  Fuca,  a  Greek  mariner  and  pilot,  of  the  crew  of  the  galleon 
Santa  Anna  taken  by  Cavendish  near  southern  California  in  1587.  The  pilot  narrated 
after  his  return  to  Mexico,  he  was  sent  by  the  viceroy  with  three  vessels  to  discover  the 
Strait  of  Anian.  This  expedition  failing,  he  was  again  sent  in  1592,  with  a  small 
caravel  in  which  "he  followed  the  course  west  and  northwest  to  latitude  47  north, 
there  rinding  a  broad  inlet  between  47  and  48,  he  entered,  sailing  therein  more  than 
twenty  days  .  .  .  and  found  very  much  broader  sea  than  was  at  the  said  entrance  .  .  . 
a  great  island  with  a  high  pinnacle.  .  .  .  Being  come  into  the  North  Sea  ...  he 
returned  to  Acapulco."  According  to  the  story  the  old  pilot  tried  to  find  his  way  to 
England  in  the  hope  of  the  Queen  recouping  him  for  goods  taken  by  Cavendish,  and 
furnishing  him  with  a  ship  to  essay  the  Northeast  Passage  again.  The  old  man  died 
before  Raleigh  and  other  Englishmen  could  forward  money  for  him  to  come  to  England. 
Whether  the  story  is  purely  a  sailor's  yarn,  or  the  pilot  really  entered  the  straits  named 
after  him,  and  losing  his  bearings  when  he  came  out  in  the  Pacific  imagined  he  was  on 
the  Atlantic,  is  a  dispute  among  savants. 


276 


VIKINGS    OF   THE    PACIFIC 


of  rain,  he  steered  to  Nootka  for  the  conference  with 
Spain. 

Vancouver  came  to  Nootka  on  the  z8th  of  August. 
Nootka  was  the  grand  rallying  place  of  fur  traders  on 
the  Pacific.  It  was  a  triangular  sound  extending  into 
the  shores  of  Vancouver  Island.  On  an  island  at  the 


Indian  Settlement  at  Nootka. 

mouth  of  the  sound  the  Spaniards  had  built  their 
fort.  This  part  of  the  bay  was  known  as  Friendly 
Cove.  To  the  north  was  Snug  Cove,  where  Cook 
had  anchored ;  to  the  south  the  roadstead  of  the  fur 
traders.  Mountains  rose  from  the  water-line;  and  on  a 
terrace  of  hills  above  the  Spanish  fort  was  the  native 
village  of  Maquinna,  the  Indian  chief. 


GEORGE   VANCOUVER  267 

For  the  first  two  weeks  of  April,  the  Discovery  and 
Chatham  had  driven  under  cloud  of  sail  and  sunny 
skies;  but  on  the  i6th,  just  when  the  white  fret  of  reefs 
ahead  forewarned  land,  heavy  weather  settled  over 
the  ships.  To  the  fore,  bare,  majestic,  compact  as  a 
wall,  the  coast  of  New  Albion  towered  out  of  the  surf 
near  Mendocino.  Cheers  went  up  from  the  lookout 
for  the  landfall  of  Francis  Drake's  discovery.  Then 
torrents  of  rain  washed  out  surf  and  shore.  The  hurri- 
cane gales,  that  had  driven  all  other  navigators  out  to 
sea  from  this  coast,  now  lashed  Vancouver.  Such 
smashing  seas  swept  over  decks,  that  masts,  sails, 
railings,  were  wrenched  away. 

Was  it  ill-luck  or  destiny,  that  caught  Vancouver 
in  this  gale  ?  If  he  had  not  been  driven  offshore 
here,  he  might  have  been  just  two  weeks  before  Gray 
on  the  Columbia,  and  made  good  England's  claim  of 
all  territory  between  New  Spain  and  Alaska.  When 
the  weather  cleared  on  April  27,  the  ocean  was  turgid, 
plainly  tinged  river-color  by  inland  waters;  but  ground 
swell  of  storm  and  tide  rolled  across  the  shelving  sand- 
bars. Not  a  notch  nor  an  opening  breached  through 
the  flaw  of  the  horizon  from  the  ocean  to  the  source  of 
the  shallow  green.  Vancouver  was  too  far  offshore  to 
see  that  there  really  was  a  break  in  the  surf  wash.  He 
thought  —  and  thought  rightly  —  this  was  the  place 
where  the  trader,  Meares,  had  hoped  to  find  the  great 
River  of  the  West,  only  to  be  disappointed  and  to  name 
the  point  Cape  Disappointment.  Vancouver  was 


268          VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

not  to  be  fooled  by  any  such  fanciful  theories.  "Not 
considering  this  opening  worthy  of  more  attention," 
he  writes,  "I  continued  to  the  northwest."  He  had 
missed  the  greatest  honor  that  yet  remained  for  any 
discoverer  on  the  Pacific.  Within  two  weeks  Gray, 
the  American,  heading  back  to  these  baffling  tides  with 
a  dogged  persistence  that  won  its  own  glory,  was  to 
succeed  in  passing  the  breakers  and  discovering  the 
Columbia.  As  the  calm  permitted  approach  to  the 
shore  again,  forests  appeared  through  the  haze  —  that 
soft,  velvet,  caressing  haze  of  the  dreamy,  lazily  swell- 
ing Pacific  —  forests  of  fir  and  spruce  and  pine  and 
cypress,  in  all  the  riot  of  dank  spring  growth,  a  dense 
tangle  of  windfall  and  underbrush  and  great  vines 
below,  festooned  with  the  light  green  stringy  mosses 
of  cloud  line  overhead  and  almost  impervious  to  sun- 
light. Myriad  wild  fowl  covered  the  sea.  The  coast 
became  beetling  precipice,  that  rolled  inland  forest- 
clad  to  mountains  jagging  ragged  peaks  through  the 
clouds.  This  was  the  Olympus  Range,  first  noticed 
by  Meares,  and  to-day  seen  for  miles  out  at  sea  like  a 
ridge  of  opalescent  domes  suspended  in  mid-heaven. 

Vancouver  was  gliding  into  the  Straits  of  Fuca  when 
the  slender  colors  of  a  far  ship  floated  above  the  blue 
horizon  outward  bound.  Another  wave-roll,  and  the 
flag  was  seen  to  be  above  full-blown  sails  and  a  square- 
hulled,  trim  little  trader  of  America.  At  six  in  the 
morning  of  April  29,  the  American  saluted  with  a 


GEORGE   VANCOUVER  279 

was  very  pleasant;  but  it  was  not  business.  Then 
Vancouver  requested  Don  Quadra  to  ratify  the  inter- 
national agreement  between  England  and  Spain;  but 
there  proved  to  be  a  wide  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
what  that  agreement  meant.  Vancouver  held  that  it 
entailed  the  surrender  of  Spain's  sovereignty  from  San 
Francisco  northward.  Don  Quadra  maintained  that 
it  only  surrendered  Spanish  rights  north  of  Juan  de 
Fuca,  leaving  the  northwest  coast  free  to  all  nations 
for  trade.  With  Vancouver  it  was  all  or  nothing. 
Don  Quadra  then  suggested  that  letters  be  sent  to  Spain 
and  England  for  more  specific  instructions.  For  this 
purpose  Lieutenant  Broughton  was  to  be  despatched 
overland  across  Mexico  to  Europe.  It  was  at  this  stage 
that  Robert  Gray  came  down  from  the  north  on  the 
damaged  Columbia,  to  receive  assistance  from  Quadra. 
Within  three  weeks  Gray  had  sailed  for  Boston,  Don 
Quadra  for  New  Spain,  and  Vancouver  to  the  south, 
to  examine  that  Columbia  River  of  Gray's  before  pro- 
ceeding to  winter  on  the  Sandwich  Islands. 

The  three  English  ships  hauled  out  of  Nootka  in 
the  middle  of  October,  steering  for  that  new  river  of 
Gray's,  of  which  Vancouver  had  expressed  such  doubt. 
The  foaming  reefs  of  Cape  Disappointment  were 
sighted  and  the  north  entrance  seen  just  as  Gray  had 
described  it.  The  Chatham  rode  safely  inside  the 
heavy  cross  swell,  though  her  small  boat  smashed 
to  chips  among  the  breakers;  but  on  Sunday,  October 


280          VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

2i,  such  mountainous  seas  were  running  that  Vancouver 
dared  not  risk  his  big  ship,  the  Discovery,  across  the 
bar.  Broughton  was  intrusted  to  examine  the  Colum- 
bia before  setting  out  to  England  for  fresh  orders. 

The  Chatham  had  anchored  just  inside  Cape  Dis- 
appointment on  the  north,  then  passed  south  to  Cape 
Adams,  using  Gray's  chart  as  guide.  Seven  miles  up 
the  north  coast,  a  deep  bay  was  named  after  Gray. 
Nine  or  ten  Indian  dugouts  with  one  hundred  and 
fifty  warriors  now  escorted  Broughton's  rowboat  up- 
stream. The  lofty  peak  ahead  covered  with  snow 
was  named  Mt.  Hood.  For  seven  days  Broughton 
followed  the  river  till  his  provision  ran  out,  and  the 
old  Indian  chief  with  him  explained  by  the  signs  of 
pointing  in  the  direction  of  the  sunrise  and  letting 
water  trickle  through  his  fingers  that  water-falls  ahead 
would  stop  passage.  Somehow,  Broughton  seemed  to 
think  because  Gray,  a  private  trader,  had  not  been 
clad  in  the  gold-braid  regimentals  of  authority,  his 
act  of  discovery  was  void;  for  Broughton  landed, 
and  with  the  old  chief  assisting  at  the  ceremony  by 
drinking  healths,  took  possession  of  all  the  region  for 
England,  "having"  as  the  record  of  the  trip  explains, 
"every  reason  to  believe  that  the  subjects  of  no  other 
civilized  nation  or  state  had  ever  entered  this  river 
before;  in  this  opinion  he  was  confirmed  by  Mr. 
Gray's  sketch,  in  which  it  does  not  appear  that  Mr. 
Gray  either  saw  or  was  ever  within  five  leagues  of  the 
entrance." 


GEORGE   VANCOUVER  281 

Any  comment  on  this  proceeding  is  superfluous. 
It  was  evidently  in  the  hope  that  the  achievement  of 
Gray  —  an  unassuming  fur  trader,  backed  by  nothing 
but  his  own  dauntless  courage  —  would  be  forgotten, 
which  it  certainly  was  for  fifty  years  by  nearly  all 
Americans.  Three  days  later,  on  November  3,  Brough- 
ton  was  back  down-stream  at  the  Chatham,  noting  the 
deserted  Indian  village  of  Chinook  as  he  passed  to 
the  harbor  mouth.  On  November  6,  in  heavy  rain,  the 
ship  stood  out  for  sea,  passing  the  Jenny  of  Bristol, 
imprisoned  inside  the  cape  by  surf.  Broughton  landed 
to  reconnoitre  the  passage  out.  The  wind  calmed  next 
day,  and  a  breach  was  descried  through  the  surf.  The 
little  trading  ship  led  the  way,  Broughton  following, 
hard  put  to  keep  the  Chatham  headed  for  the  sea, 
breakers  rolling  over  her  from  stem  to  stern,  snapping 
the  tow-rope  of  the  launch  and  washing  a  sailor  over- 
board; and  we  cannot  but  have  a  higher  respect  for 
Gray's  feat,  knowing  the  difficulties  that  Broughton 
weathered. 

Meanwhile  Vancouver  on  the  Discovery  had  coasted 
on  down  from  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  to  Drake's 
Bay,  just  outside  the  Golden  Gate  of  San  Francisco, 
where  the  bold  English  pirate  had  anchored  in  1579. 
By  nightfall  of  November  14  he  was  inside  the  spacious 
harbor  of  San  Francisco.  Two  men  on  horseback 
rode  out  from  the  Spanish  settlement,  a  mile  back 
from  the  water  front,  firing  muskets  as  a  salute  to 
Vancouver.  The  next  morning,  a  Spanish  friar  and 


282          VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

ensign  came  aboard  the  Discovery  for  breakfast,  point- 
ing out  to  Vancouver  the  best  anchorage  for  both 
wood  and  water.  While  the  sailors  went  shooting 
quail  on  the  hills,  or  amused  themselves  watching  the 
Indians  floating  over  the  harbor  on  rafts  made  of  dry 
rushes  and  grass,  the  good  Spanish  padre  conducted 
Vancouver  ashore  to  the  presidio,  or  house  of  the  com- 
mandant, back  from  the  landing  on  a  little  knoll  sur- 
rounded by  hills.  The  fort  was  a  square  area  of  adobe 
walls  fourteen  feet  high  and  five  deep,  the  outer  beams 
filled  in  between  with  a  plaster  of  solid  mortar,  houses 
and  walls  whitewashed  from  lime  made  of  sea-shells. 
A  small  brass  cannon  gathered  rust  above  one  dilapi- 
dated carriage,  and  another  old  gun  was  mounted  by 
being  lashed  to  a  rotten  log.  A  single  gate  led  into  the 
fort,  which  was  inhabited  by  the  commandant,  the 
guard  of  thirty-five  soldiers,  and  their  families.  The 
windows  of  the  houses  were  very  small  and  without 
glass,  the  commandant's  house  being  a  rude  structure 
thirty  by  fourteen  feet,  whitewashed  inside  and  out, 
the  floor  sand  and  rushes,  the  furnishings  of  the  rough- 
est handicraft.  The  mission  proper  was  three  miles 
from  the  fort,  with  a  guard  of  five  soldiers  and  a  cor- 
poral. Such  was  the  beginning  of  the  largest  city  on 
the  Pacific  coast  to-day. 

Broughton  was  now  sent  overland  to  England  for 
instructions  about  the  transfer  of  Nootka.  Puget  be- 
came commander  of  the  Chatham.  The  store  ship 
Dcedalus  was  sent  to  the  South  Seas,  and  touching  only 


GEORGE   VANCOUVER  283 

at  Monterey,  Vancouver  sailed  to  winter  in  the  Sand- 
wich Islands.  Here  two  duties  awaited  the  explorer, 
which  he  carried  out  in  a  way  that  left  a  streak  both  of 
glory  and  of  shame  across  his  escutcheon.  The  Sand- 
wich Islands  had  become  the  halfway  house  of  the 
Pacific  for  the  fur  traders.  How  fur  traders  —  riff- 
raff adventurers  from  earth's  ends  beyond  the  reach  of 
law  —  may  have  acted  among  these  simple  people 
may  be  guessed  from  the  conduct  of  Cook's  crews; 
and  Cook  was  a  strict  disciplinarian.  Those  who  sow 
to  the  wind,  need  not  be  surprised  if  they  reap  the 
whirlwind.  White  men,  welcomed  by  these  Indians  as 
gods,  repaid  the  native  hospitality  by  impressing  na- 
tives as  crews  to  a  northern  climate  where  the  transition 
from  semitropics  meant  almost  certain  death.  For  a 
fur  trader  to  slip  into  Hawaii,  entice  women  aboard, 
then  scud  off  to  America  where  the  victims  might  rot 

O 

unburied  for  all  the  traders  cared  —  was  considered 
a  joke.  How  the  joke  caused  Captain  Cook's  death 
the  world  knows;  and  the  joke  was  becoming  a  little 
frequent,  a  little  bold,  a  little  too  grim  for  the  white 
traders'  sense  of  security.  The  Sandwich  Islanders  had 
actually  formed  the  plot  of  capturing  every  vessel  that 
came  into  their  harbors  and  holding  the  crews  for  ex- 
tortionate ransom.  How  many  white  men  were  victims 
of  this  plot  —  to  die  by  the  assassin's  knife  or  waiting 
for  the  ransom  that  never  came  —  is  not  a  part  of 
this  record.  It  was  becoming  a  common  thing  to  find 
white  men  living  in  a  state  of  quasi-slavery  among  the 


284         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

islanders,  each  white  held  as  hostage  for  the  security  of 
the  others  not  escaping.  Within  three  years  three 
ships  had  been  attacked,  one  Spanish,  one  American, 
one  English  —  the  store  ship  Dcedalus  on  the  way  out 
to  Nootka  with  supplies  for  Vancouver.  Two  officers, 
Hergest  and  Gooch  of  the  Dcedalus,  had  been  seized, 
stripped  naked,  forced  at  the  point  of  spears  up  a  hill 
to  the  native  village,  and  cut  to  pieces.  Vancouver 
determined  to  put  a  stop  to  such  attacks.  Arriving  at 
the  islands,  he  trained  his  cannon  ashore,  demanded 
that  the  murderers  of  the  Dcedalus's  officers  be  surren- 
dered, tried  the  culprits  with  all  the  solemnity  and 
speed  of  English  court-martial,  sentenced  them  to 
death,  had  them  tied  up  to  the  mast  poles  and  executed. 
That  is  the  blot  against  Vancouver;  for  the  islanders 
had  put  up  a  trick.  The  real  murderers  had  been 
leading  chiefs.  Not  wishing  to  surrender  these,  the 
islanders  had  given  Vancouver  poor  slaves  quite  guilt- 
less of  the  crime. 

In  contrast  to  this  wrong-headed  demonstration  of 
justice  was  Vancouver's  other  act.  At  Nootka  he 
had  found  among  the  traders  two  young  Hawaiian 
girls  not  more  than  fifteen  and  nineteen  years  of  age, 
whom  some  blackguard  trader  had  forcibly  carried  off. 
The  most  of  great  voyagers  would  not  have  soiled  their 
gloves  interfering  with  such  a  case.  Cook  had  winked 
at  such  crimes.  Drake,  two  hundred  years  before, 
had  laughed.  The  Russians  outdid  either  Drake  or 
Cook.  They  dumped  the  victims  overboard  where  the 


GEORGE    VANCOUVER  285 

sea  told  no  tales.  Vancouver  might  have  been  strict 
enough  disciplinarian  to  execute  the  wrong  men  by 
way  of  a  lesson;  but  he  was  consistent  in  his  strictness. 
Round  these  two  friendless  savages  he  wrapped  all  the 
chivalry  and  the  might  of  the  English  flag.  He  re- 
ceived them  on  board  the  Discovery,  treated  them  as  he 
might  have  treated  his  own  sisters,  prevented  the  pos- 
sibility of  insult  from  the  common  sailors  by  having 
them  at  his  own  table  on  the  ship,  taught  them  the 
customs  of  Europeans  toward  women  and  the  reasons 
for  those  customs,  so  that  the  young  girls  presently  had 
the  respect  and  friendship  of  every  sailor  on  board  the 
Discovery.  In  New  Spain  he  had  obtained  clothing 
and  delicacies  for  them  that  white  women  have;  and 
in  the  Sandwich  Islands  took  precautions  against  their 
death  at  the  hands  of  Hawaiians  for  having  been  on  the 
ship  with  strange  men,  by  securing  from  the  Sand- 
wich Island  chief  the  promise  of  his  protection  for 
them  and  the  gifts  of  a  home  inside  the  royal  en- 
closure. 

April  of  1793  saw  Vancouver  back  again  on  the  west 
coast  of  America.  In  results  this  year's  exploring  was 
largely  negative;  but  the  object  of  Vancouver's  life 
was  a  negative  one  —  to  prove  there  was  no  passage 
between  Pacific  and  Atlantic.  He  had  missed  the 
Columbia  the  previous  year  by  standing  off  the  coast 
north  of  Mendocino.  So  this  year,  he  again  plied  up 
the  same  shore  to  Nootka.  No  fresh  instructions  had 


286          VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

come  from  England  or  Spain  to  Nootka;  and  Van- 
couver took  up  the  trail  of  the  sea  where  he  had  stopped 
the  year  before,  carrying  forward  survey  of  island  and 
mainland  from  Vancouver  Island  northward  to  the 
modern  Sitka  or  Norfolk  Sound.  Gray,  the  American, 
had  been  attacked  by  Indians  here  the  year  before; 
and  Vancouver  did  not  escape  the  hostility  of  these 
notoriously  treacherous  tribes.  Up  Behm  Canal  the 
ships  were  visited  by  warriors  wearing  death-masks, 
who  refused  everything  in  exchange  for  their  sea-otter 
except  firearms.  The  canal  here  narrowed  to  a  dark 
canyon  overhung  by  beetling  cliffs.  Four  large  war 
canoes  manned  by  several  hundred  savages  daubed 
with  war  paint  succeeded  in  surrounding  the  small 
launch,  and  while  half  the  warriors  held  the  boat  to 
prevent  it  escaping,  the  rest  had  rifled  it  of  everything 
they  could  take,  from  belaying-pins  and  sail  rope  to  fire- 
arms, before  Vancouver  lost  patience  and  gave  orders  to 
fire.  At  the  shot  the  Indians  were  over  decks  and 
into  the  sea  like  water-rats,  while  forces  ambushed  on 
land  began  rolling  rocks  and  stones  down  the  preci- 
pices. One  gains  some  idea  of  Vancouver's  thorough- 
ness by  his  work  up  Portland  Canal,  which  was  to 
become  famous  a  hundred  years  later  as  the  scene  of 
boundary  disputes.  Here,  so  determined  was  he  to 
prove  none  of  the  passages  led  to  the  Atlantic  that  his 
small  boat  actually  cruised  seven  hundred  miles  with- 
out going  more  than  sixty  miles  from  ocean  front.  By 
October  of  1793  Vancouver  had  demolished  the  myth  of 


GEORGE   VANCOUVER  287 

a  possible  passage  between  New  Spain  and  Russian 
America;  for  he  had  examined  every  inlet  from  San 
Francisco  to  what  is  now  Sitka.  While  the  results 
were  negative  to  himself,  far  different  were  they  to 
Russia.  It  was  Vancouver's  voyage  northward  that 
stirred  the  Russians  up  to  move  southward.  In  a 
word,  if  Vancouver  had  not  gone  up  as  far  as  Norfolk 
Sound  or  Sitka,  the  Russian  fur  traders  would  have 
drowsed  on  with  Kadiak  as  headquarters,  and  Canada 
to-day  might  have  included  the  entire  gold-fields  of 
Alaska. 

Again  Vancouver  wintered  in  the  Sandwich  Islands. 
In  the  year  1794  he  changed  the  direction  of  his  ex- 
ploring. Instead  of  beginning  at  New  Spain  and  work- 
ing north,  he  began  at  Russian  America  and  worked 
south.  Kadiak  and  Cook's  Inlet  were  regarded  as  the 

O 

eastern  bounds  of  Russian  settlement  at  this  time, 
though  the  hunting  brigades  of  the  Russians  scoured 
far  and  wide ;  so  Vancouver  began  his  survey  eastward 
at  Cook's  Inlet.  Terrific  floods  of  ice  banged  the  ships' 
bows  as  they  plied  up  Cook's  Inlet;  and  the  pistol-shot 
reports  of  the  vast  icebergs  breaking  from  the  walls  of 
the  solid  glacier  coast  forewarned  danger;  but  Van- 
couver was  not  to  be  deterred.  Again  the  dogged  ill- 

O  OO 

luck  of  always  coming  in  second  for  the  prize  he  coveted 
marked  each  stage  of  his  trip.  Russian  forts  were 
seen  on  Cook's  Inlet,  Russian  settlements  on  Prince 
William  Sound,  Russian  flotillas  of  nine  hundred 


288          VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

Aleutian  hunters  steering  by  instinct  like  the  gulls 
spreading  over  the  sea  as  far  east  as  Bering  Bay,  or 
where  the  coast  of  Alaska  dips  southward.  Every- 
where he  heard  the  language  of  Russia,  everywhere 
saw  that  Russia  regarded  his  explorations  with  jealousy 
as  intrusion;  everywhere  observed  that  Russian  and 
savage  had  come  to  an  understanding  and  now  lived  as 
friends,  if  not  brothers.  Twice  Baranof,  the  little 
Czar  of  the  North,  sent  word  for  Vancouver  to  await  a 
conference;  but  Vancouver  was  not  keen  to  meet  the 
little  Russian  potentate.  One  row  at  a  time  was 
enough;  and  the  quarrel  with  Spain  was  still  unsettled. 
The  waters  of  to-day  plied  by  the  craft  of  gold  seekers, 
Bering  Bay,  Lynn  Canal,  named  after  his  birthplace, 
were  now  so  thoroughly  surveyed  by  Vancouver  that 
his  charts  may  still  be  used. 

Only  once  did  the  maze  of  waterways  seem  to  prom- 
ise a  northeast  passage.  It  was  up  Lynn  Canal,  where 
so  many  gold  seekers  have  rushed  to  have  their  hopes 
dashed,  like  Vancouver.  Two  officers  had  gone  up 
the  channel  in  a  small  boat  to  see  if  any  opening  led  to 
the  Atlantic.  Boisterous  weather  and  tremendous  tide 
had  lashed  the  sea  to  foam.  The  long  daylight  was  so 
delusive  that  the  men  did  not  realize  it  was  nearly  mid- 
night. At  ten  o'clock  they  had  rowed  ashore,  to  rest 
from  their  fight  with  wave  and  wind,  when  armed 
Indians  suddenly  rushed  down  to  the  water's  edge  in 
battle  array,  spears  couched.  The  exhausted  rowers 
bent  to  the  oars  all  night.  At  one  place  in  their  re- 


GEORGE   VANCOUVER  289 

treat  to  open  sea,  the  fog  lifted  to  reveal  the  passage 
between  precipices  only  a  few  feet  wide  with  warriors' 
canoes  on  every  side.  A  crash  of  musketry  drove  the 
assailants  off.  Two  or  three  men  kept  guard  with 
pointed  muskets,  while  the  oarsmen  pulled  through  a 
rolling  cross  swell  back  to  the  protection  of  the  big 
ships  outside.  \ 

On  August  19,  as  the  ships  drove  south  to  Norfolk 
or  Sitka  Sound,  the  men  suddenly  recognized  head- 
lands where  they  had  cruised  the  summer  before.  For 
a  second  they  scarcely  realized.  Then  they  knew 
that  their  explorations  from  Alaska  southward  had 
come  to  the  meeting  place  of  their  voyage  from  New 
Spain  northward.  Just  a  little  more  than  fifty  years 
from  Bering's  discoveries,  the  exploration  of  the  north- 
west coast  of  America  had  been  completed.  Some  one 
emitted  an  incoherent  shout  that  the  work  was  finished  ! 
The  cheer  was  caught  up  by  every  man  on  board. 
Some  one  else  recalled  that  it  had  been  April  when  they 
set  out  on  the  fool-quest  of  the  Northeast  Passage ;  and 
a  true  April's  fool  the  quest  had  proved  !  Then  flags 
were  run  up ;  the  wine  casks  brought  out,  the  marines 
drawn  up  in  line,  and  three  such  volleys  of  joy  fired  as 
those  sailors  alone  could  feel.  For  four  years  they  had 
followed  the  foolish  quest  of  the  learned  world's  error. 
That  night  Vancouver  gave  a  gala  dinner  to  his  crews. 
They  deserved  it.  Their  four  years'  cruise  marked  the 
close  of  the  most  heroic  epoch  on  the  Pacific  coast. 
Vancouver  had  accomplished  his  life-work  —  there 


290          VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

was  no  northeast  passage  through  the  west  coast  of 
America.1 

1  The  data  of  Vancouver's  voyage  come  chiefly,  of  course,  from  the  volume  by 
himself,  issued  after  his  death,  Voyage  of  Discovery  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  London,  1798. 
Supplementary  data  may  be  found  in  the  records  of  predecessors  and  contemporaries  like 
Meares's  Voyages,  London,  1790  ;  Portlock's  Voyage,  London,  I  789  ;  Dixon's  Voyage, 
London,  1 789,  and  others,  from  whom  nearly  all  modern  writers,  like  Greenhow,  Hubert 
Howe  Bancroft,  draw  their  information.  The  reports  of  Dr.  Davidson  in  his  Coast 
and  Survey  work,  and  his  Alaska  Boundary,  identify  many  of  Vancouver's  landfalls, 
and  illustrate  the  tremendous  difficulties  overcome  in  local  topography.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  refer  to  Begg  and  Mayne,  and  other  purely  local  sketches  of  British  Co- 
lumbian coast  lines  ;  as  Begg's  History  simply  draws  from  the  old  voyages.  Of  modern 
works,  Dr.  Davidson's  Survey  works,  and  the  official  reports  of  the  Canadian  Geo- 
logical Survey  (Dawson),  are  the  only  ones  that  add  any  facts  to  what  Vancouver  has 
recorded. 


PART  III 

EXPLORATION  GIVES  PLACE  TO  FUR  TRADE  — THE 
EXPLOITATION  OF  THE  PACIFIC  COAST  UNDER 
THE  RUSSIAN  AMERICAN  FUR  COMPANY,  AND 
THE  RENOWNED  LEADER  BARANOF 


CHAPTER   XI 

1579-1867 
THE    RUSSIAN   AMERICAN    FUR    COMPANY 

The  Pursuit  of  the  Sable  leads  Cossacks  across  Siberia,  of  the  Sea- 
Otter,  across  the  Pacific  as  far  South  as  California  —  Caravans  of 
Four  Thousand  Horses  on  the  Long  Trail  Seven  Thousand  Miles 
across  Europe  and  Asia  —  Banditti  of  the  Sea  —  The  Union  of  All 
Traders  in  One  Monopoly  —  Siege  and  Slaughter  of  Sitka  —  How 
Monroe  Doctrine  grew  out  of  Russian  Fur  Trade  —  Aims  of  Russia 
to  dominate  North  Pacific 

"Sea  Voyagers  of  the  Northern  Ocean"  they  styled 
themselves,  the  Cossack  banditti  —  robber  knights, 
pirates,  plunderers  —  who  pursued  the  little  sable 
across  Europe  and  Asia  eastward,  just  as  the  French 
coureurs  des  bois  followed  the  beaver  across  America 
westward.  And  these  two  great  tides  of  adventurers 
-  the  French  voyager,  threading  the  labyrinthine 
waterways  of  American  wilds  westward ;  the  Russian 
voyager  exchanging  his  reindeer  sled  and  desert  cara- 
vans for  crazy  rafts  of  green  timbers  to  cruise  across 
the  Pacific  eastward  —  were  directed  both  to  the  same 
region,  animated  by  the  same  impulse,  the  capture  of 
the  Pacific  coast  of  America. 

293 


294          VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

The  tide  of  adventure  set  eastward  across  Siberia  at 
the  very  time  (1579)  Francis  Drake,  the  English  free- 
booter, was  sacking  the  ports  of  New  Spain  on  his  way 
to  California.  Yermac,  robber  knight  and  leader  of 
a  thousand  Cossack  banditti,  had  long  levied  tribute 
of  loot  on  the  caravans  bound  from  Russia  to  Persia. 
Then  came  the  avenging  army  of  the  Czar.  Yermac 
fled  to  Siberia,  wrested  the  country  from  the  Tartars, 


Raised  Reindeer  Sledges. 

and  obtained  forgiveness  from  the  Czar  by  laying  a 
new  realm  at  his  feet.  But  these  Cossack  plunderers 
did  not  stop  with  Siberia.  Northward  were  the  ivory 
tusks  of  the  frozen  tundras.  Eastward  were  precious 
furs  of  the  snow-padded  forests  and  mountains  toward 
Kamchatka.  For  both  ivory  and  furs  the  smugglers 
of  the  Chinese  borderlands  would  pay  a  price.  On 
pretence  of  collecting  one-tenth  tribute  for  the  Czar, 
forward  pressed  the  Cossacks ;  now  on  horseback,  — 


RUSSIAN  AMERICAN  FUR  COMPANY   295 

wild  brutes  got  in  trade  from  Tartars,  —  now  behind 
reindeer  teams  through  snowy  forests  where  the  spread- 
ing hoofs  carried  over  drifts;  now  on  rude-planked 
rafts  hewn  from  green  firs  on  the  banks  of  Siberian 
rivers ;  on  and  on  pushed  the  plunderers  till  the  Arctic 
rolled  before  them  on  the  north,  and  the  Pacific  on  the 
east.1  Nor  did  the  seas  of  these  strange  shores  bar  the 
Cossacks.  Long  before  Peter  the  Great  had  sent 
Vitus  Bering  to  America  in  1741,  Russian  voyagers  had 
launched  out  east  and  north  with  a  daredevil  reckless- 
ness that  would  have  done  honor  to  prehistoric  man. 
That  part  of  their  adventures  is  a  record  that  exceeds 
the  wildest  darings  of  fiction.  Their  boats  were  called 
kotcbes.  They  were  some  sixty  feet  long,  flat  bottomed, 
planked  with  green  timber.  Not  a  nail  was  used. 
Where  were  nails  to  come  from  six  thousand  miles 
across  the  frozen  tundras  ?  Indeed,  iron  was  so  scarce 
that  at  a  later  day  when  ships  with  nails  ventured  on 

1  Coxe  and  Miiller  are  the  two  great  authorities  on  the  early  Russian  fur  trade. 
Data  on  later  days  can  be  found  in  abundance  in  Krusenstern's  Voyage,  London,  1813  ; 
Kohl's  History,  London,  1862,;  LangsdorfFs  Travels,  London,  1813;  Stejneger's 
Contributions  to  Smithsonian,  1884,  and  Report  on  Commander  Islands;  Elliott's  Our 
Arctic  Province;  Dall's  Alaska;  Veniaminofs  Letters  on  Aleutians;  Cleveland's 
Voyages,  1842;  Nordenskjold's  Voyage  of  the  Vega;  Macfie's  Vancouver  Island; 
Ivan  PetrorFs  Report  on  Alaska,  1880 ;  Lisiansky's  Voyage  Round  the  World;  Sauer's 
Geographical  Account  of  Expedition  to  Northern  Parts  ;  Kotzebue's  Voyages  of  Dis- 
co-very, 1819,  and  Neiv  Voyage,  1831  ;  Chappe  d'Auteroche's  Siberia  and  Krache- 
ninnikofs  Kamchatka,  1764;  Simpson's  Voyage  Round  World,  1847;  Burney's 
Voyages ;  Gmelin's  Siberia,  Paris,  1767;  Greenhow's  Oregon;  Pallas's  Northern 
Settlements;  Broughton's  Voyage,  1804;  Berg's  Aleutian  Islands  ;  Bancroft's  Alaska; 
Massa.  Hist.  Coll.,  1793-1795;  U.  S.  Congressional  Reports  from  1867;  Martin's 
Hudson's  Bay  Territories,  London,  1849. 


296         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

these  seas  natives  were  detected  diving  below  to  pull  the 
nails  from  the  timbers  with  their  teeth.  Instead  of 
nails,  the  Cossack  used  reindeer  thongs  to  bind  the 
planking  together.  Instead  of  tar,  moss  and  clay  and 
the  tallow  of  sea  animals  calked  the  seams.  Needless 
to  say,  there  was  neither  canvas  nor  rope.  Reindeer 
thongs  supplied  the  cordage,  reindeer  hides  the  sails. 
On  such  rickety  craft,  "with  the  help  of  God  and  a 
little  powder,"  the  Russian  voyagers  hoisted  sail  and 
put  to  sea.  On  just  such  vessels  did  Deshneff  and 
Staduchin  attempt  to  round  Asia  from  the  Arctic  into 
Bering  Sea  (1647-1650). 

To  be  sure,  the  first  bang  of  the  ice-floes  against  the 
prow  of  these  rickety  boats  knocked  them  into  kindling- 
wood.  Two-thirds  of  the  Cossack  voyagers  were  lost 
every  year;  and  often  all  news  that  came  of  the  crew 
was  a  mast  pole  washed  in  by  the  tide  with  a  dead  man 
lashed  to  the  crosstrees.  Small  store  of  fresh  water 
could  be  carried.  Pine  needles  were  the  only  antidote 
for  scurvy;  and  many  a  time  the  boat  came  tumbling 
back  to  the  home  port,  not  a  man  well  enough  to  stand 
before  the  mast. 

Always  it  is  what  lies  just  beyond  that  lures.  It  is 
the  unknown  that  beckons  like  the  arms  of  the  old  sea 
sirens.  Groping  through  the  mists  that  hang  like  a 
shroud  over  these  northern  seas,  hoar  frosts  clinging  to 
masts  and  decks  till  the  boat  might  have  been  some 
ghost  ship  in  a  fog  world,  the  Cossack  plunderers  some- 


RUSSIAN  AMERICAN1  FUR  COMPANY   297 

times  caught  glimpses  far  ahead  —  twenty,  thirty,  forty 
miles  eastward  —  of  a  black  line  along  the  sea.  Was 
it  land  or  fog,  ice  or  deep  water  ?  And  when  the  wind 
blew  from  the  east,  strange  land  birds  alighted  on  the 
yard-arms.  Dead  whales  with  the  harpoons  of  strange 
hunters  washed  past  the  ship ;  and  driftwood  of  a  kind 
that  did  not  grow  in  Asia  tossed  up  on  the  tide  wrack. 
It  was  the  word  brought  back  by  these  free-lances  of 
the  sea  that  induced  Peter  the  Great  to  send  Vitus 
Bering  on  a  voyage  of  discovery  to  the  west  coast  of 
America;  and  when  the  castaways  of  Bering's  wreck 
returned  with  a  new  fur  that  was  neither  beaver  nor 
otter,  but  larger  than  either  and  of  a  finer  sheen  than 
sable,  selling  the  pelts  to  Chinese  merchants  for  what 
would  be  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred 
dollars  each  in  modern  money,  the  effect  was  the  same 
as  the  discovery  of  a  gold  mine.  The  new  fur  was  the 
sea-otter,  as  peculiar  to  the  Pacific  as  the  seal  and 
destined  to  lead  the  Cossacks  on  a  century's  wild  hunt 
from  Alaska  to  California.  Cossacks,  Siberian  mer- 
chants, exiled  criminals,  banded  together  in  as  wild  a 
stampede  to  the  west  coast  of  America  as  ever  a  gold 
mine  caused  among  civilized  men  of  a  later  day. 

The  little  hatches  that  used  to  cruise  out  from  Si- 
berian rivers  no  longer  served.  Siberian  merchants 
advanced  the  capital  for  the  building  of  large  sloops. 
Cargo  of  trinkets  for  trade  with  American  Indians  was 
supplied  in  the  same  way.  What  would  be  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  in  modern  money,  it  took  to  build  and 


298         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

equip  one  of  these  sloops;  but  a  cargo  of  sea-otter  was 
to  be  had  for  the  taking  —  barring  storms  that  yearly 
engulfed  two-thirds  of  the  hunters,  and  hostile  Indians 
that  twice  wiped  Russian  settlements  from  the  coast  of 
America  —  and  if  these  pelts  sold  for  one  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars  each,  the  returns  were  ample  to  compensate 
risk  and  outlay.  Provisions,  cordage,  iron,  ammuni- 
tion, firearms,  all  had  to  be  brought  from  St.  Peters- 
burg, seven  thousand  miles  to  the  Pacific  coast.  From 
St.  Petersburg  to  Moscow,  Kasan,  the  Tartar  desert 
and  Siberia,  pack  horses  were  used.  It  was  a  common 
thing  for  caravans  of  four  or  even  five  thousand  pack 
horses  employed  by  the  Russian  fur  traders  of  America 
to  file  into  Irkutsk  of  a  night.  At  the  head  waters  of 
the  Lena,  rafts  and  flatboats,  similar  to  the  old  Macki- 
naw boats  of  American  fur  traders  on  the  Missouri, 
were  built  and  the  cargo  floated  down  to  Yakutsk,  the 
great  rendezvous  of  Siberian  fur  traders.  Here  exiles 
acting  as  packers  and  Cossacks  as  overseers  usually 
went  on  a  wild  ten  days'  spree.  From  Yakutsk  pack 
horses,  dog  trains,  and  reindeer  teams  were  employed 
for  the  remaining  thousand  miles  to  the  Pacific;  and 
this  was  the  hardest  part  of  the  journey.  Mountains 
higher  than  the  Rockies  had  to  be  traversed.  Moun- 
tain torrents  tempestuous  with  the  spring  thaw  had  to  be 
forded  —  ice  cold  and  to  the  armpits  of  the  drivers; 
and  in  winter  time,  the  packs  of  timber  wolves  follow- 
ing on  the  heels  of  the  cavalcade  could  only  be  driven 
off  by  the  hounds  kept  to  course  down  grouse  and  hare 


RUSSIAN  AMERICAN  FUR  COMPANY   299 

for  the  evening  meal.  If  an  exile  forced  to  act  as 
transport  packer  fell  behind,  that  was  the  last  of  him. 
The  Russian  fur  traders  of  America  never  paused  in 
their  plans  for  a  life  more  or  less.  Ordinarily  it  took 
three  years  for  goods  sent  from  St.  Petersburg  to  reach 
the  Pacific;  and  this  was  only  a  beginning  of  the  hard- 
ships. The  Pacific  had  to  be  crossed,  and  a  coast 
lined  with  reefs  like  a  ploughed  field  traversed  for  two 
thousand  miles  among  Indians  notorious  for  their 
treachery. 

The  vessels  were  usually  crammed  with  traps  and 
firearms  and  trinkets  to  the  water-line.  The  crews 
of  forty,  or  seventy,  or  one  hundred  were  relegated  to 
vermin-infested  hammocks  above  decks,  with  short 
rations  of  rye  bread  and  salt  fish,  and  such  scant  supply 
of  fresh  water  that  scurvy  invariably  ravaged  the  ship 
whenever  foul  weather  lengthened  the  passage.  Hav- 
ing equipped  the  vessel,  the  Siberian  merchants  passed 
over  the  management  to  the  Cossacks,  whose  pretence 
of  conquering  new  realms  and  collecting  tribute  for 
the  Czar  was  only  another  excuse  for  the  same  plunder 
in  gathering  sea-otter  as  their  predecessors  had  prac- 
tised in  hunting  the  sable.  Landsmen  among  Sibe- 
rian exiles  were  enlisted  as  crew  of  their  own  free  will 
at  first,  but  afterward,  when  the  horrors  of  wreck  and 
scurvy  and  massacre  became  known,  both  exiles  and 
Indians  were  impressed  by  force  as  fur  hunters  for  the 
Cossacks.  If  the  voyage  were  successful,  half  the  pro- 


300         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

ceeds  went  to  the  outfitter,  the  remaining  half  to  Cos- 
sacks and  crew. 

The  boats  usually  sailed  in  the  fall,  and  wintered 
on  Bering  Island.  Here  stores  of  salted  meat,  sea- 
lion  and  sea-cow,  were  laid  up,  and  the  following 
spring  the  ship  steered  for  the  Aleutians,  or  the  main 
coast  of  Alaska,  or  the  archipelago  round  the  modern 
Sitka.  Sloops  were  anchored  offshore  fully  armed 
for  refuge  in  case  of  attack.  Huts  were  then  con- 
structed of  driftwood  on  land.  Toward  the  east  and 
south,  where  the  Indians  were  treacherous  and  made 
doubly  so  by  the  rum  and  firearms  of  rival  traders, 
palisades  were  thrown  up  round  the  fort,  a  sort  of 
balcony  erected  inside  with  brass  cannon  mounted 
where  a  sentry  paraded  day  and  night,  ringing  a  bell 
every  hour  in  proof  that  he  was  not  asleep.  West- 
ward toward  the  Aleutians,  where  driftwood  was 
scarce,  the  Russians  built  their  forts  in  one  of  two 
places :  either  a  sandy  spit  where  the  sea  protected 
them  on  three  sides,  as  at  Captain  Harbor,  Oona- 
laska,  and  St.  Paul,  Kadiak,  or  on  a  high,  rocky  emi- 
nence only  approachable  by  a  zigzag  path  at  the  top 
of  which  stood  cannon  and  sentry,  as  at  Cook's  Inlet. 
Chapel  and  barracks  for  the  hunters  might  be  outside 
the  palisade;  but  the  main  house  was  inside,  a  single 
story  with  thatch  roof,  a  door  at  one  end,  a  rough 
table  at  the  other.  Sleeping  berths  with  fur  bedding 
were  on  the  side  walls,  and  every  other  available  piece 
of  wall  space  bristled  with  daggers  and  firearms  ready 


RUSSIAN  AMERICAN  FUR  COMPANY   301 

for  use.  If  the  house  was  a  double-decker,  as 
Baranof  Castle  at  Sitka,  powder  was  stored  in  the 
cellar.  Counting-rooms,  mess  room,  and  fur  stores 
occupied  the  first  floor.  Sleeping  quarters  were  up- 
stairs, and,  above  all,  a  powerful  light  hung  in  the 
cupola,  to  guide  ships  into  port  at  night. 

But  these  arrangements  concerned  only  the  Cossack 
officers  of  the  early  era,  or  the  governors  like  Baranof, 
of  a  later  day.  The  rank  and  file  of  the  crews  were 
off  on  the  hunting-grounds  with  the  Indians;  and  the 
hunting-grounds  of  the  sea-otter  were  the  storm-beaten 
kelp  beds  of  the  rockiest  coast  in  the  world.  Going 
out  in  parties  of  five  or  six,  the  promysbleniki,  as  the 
hunters  were  called,  promised  implicit  obedience  to 
their  foreman.  Store  of  vension  would  be  taken  in  a 
preliminary  hunt.  Indian  women  and  children  would 
be  left  at  the  Russian  fort  as  hostages  of  good  conduct, 
and  at  the  head  of  as  many  as  four,  five  hundred,  a 
thousand  Aleut  Indian  hunters  who  had  been  bludg- 
eoned, impressed,  bribed  by  the  promise  of  firearms 
to  hunt  for  the  Cossacks,  six  Russians  would  set 
out  to  coast  a  tempestuous  sea  for  a  thousand  miles 
in  frail  boats  made  of  parchment  stretched  on  whale- 
bone. Sometimes  a  counter-tide  would  sweep  a  whole 
flotilla  out  to  sea,  when  never  a  man  of  the  hunting 
crew  would  be  heard  of  more.  Sometimes,  when  the 
hunters  were  daring  a  gale,  riding  in  on  the  back  of 
a  storm  to  catch  the  sea-otter  driven  ashore  to  the  kelp 
beds  for  a  rest,  the  back-wash  of  a  billow,  or  a  sudden 


302          VIKINGS    OF    THE    PACIFIC 

hurricane  of  wind  raising  mountain  seas,  would  crash 
down  on  the  brigade.  When  the  spray  cleared,  the 
few  panic-stricken  survivors  were  washing  ashore  too 
exhausted  to  be  conscious  that  half  their  comrades 
had  gone  under.  Absurd  as  it  seems  that  these  plun- 
derers of  the  deep  always  held  prayers  before  going 
off  on  a  hunt  —  is  it  any  wonder  they  prayed  ?  It 
was  in  such  brigades  that  the  Russian  hunters  cruised 
the  west  coast  of  America  from  Bering  Sea  to  the  Gulf 
of  California,  and  the  whole  northwest  coast  of 
America  is  punctuated  with  saints'  names  from  the 
Russian  calendar;  for,  like  Drake's  freebooters,  they 
had  need  to  pray. 

Fur  companies  world  over  have  run  the  same  course. 
No  sooner  has  game  become  scarce  on  the  hunting- 
grounds,  than  rivals  begin  the  merry  game  of  slitting 
one  another's  throats,  or  instigating  savages  to  do  the 
butchering  for  them.  That  was  the  record  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  and  Nor'westers  in  Can- 
ada, and  the  Rocky  Mountain  men  and  American 
Company  on  the  Missouri.  Four  years  after  Bering's 
crew  had  brought  back  word  of  the  sea-otter  in  1742, 
there  were  seventy-seven  different  private  Russian 
concerns  hunting  sea-otter  off  the  islands  of  Alaska. 
Fifty  years  later,  after  Cook,  the  English  navigator, 
had  spread  authentic  news  of  the  wealth  in  furs  to  be 
had  on  the  west  coast  of  America,  there  were  sixty 
different  fur  companies  on  the  Pacific  coast  carrying 


John   Jacob  Astor. 


RUSSIAN  AMERICAN  FUR  COMPANY   303 

almost  as  many  different  flags.  John  Jacob  Astor's 
ships  had  come  round  the  Horn  from  New  York  and, 
sailing  right  into  the  Russian  hunting-grounds,  were 
endeavoring  to  make  arrangements  to  furnish  sup- 
plies to  the  Russians  in  exchange  for  cargoes  of  the  fur- 
seals,  whose  rookeries  had  been  discovered  about  the 
time  sea-otter  began  to  be  scarce.  Kendrick,  Gray, 
Ingraham,  Coolidge,  a  dozen  Boston  men  were  thread- 
ing the  shadowy,  forested  waterways  between  New 
Spain  and  Alaska.1  Ships  from  Spain,  from  France, 
from  London,  from  Canton,  from  Bengal,  from  Aus- 
tria, were  on  the  west  coast  of  America.  The  effect 
was  twofold :  sea-otter  were  becoming  scarce  from 
being  slaughtered  indiscriminately,  male  and  female, 
young  and  old ;  the  fur  trade  was  becoming  bedevilled 
from  rival  traders  using  rum  among  the  savages.  The 
life  of  a  fur  trader  on  the  Pacific  coast  was  not  worth 
a  pin's  purchase  fifty  yards  away  from  the  cannon 
mouths  pointed  through  the  netting  fastened  round 
the  deck  rails  to  keep  savages  off  ships.  Just  as  Lord 
Selkirk  indirectly  brought  about  the  consolidation  of 
the  Hudson's  Bay  fur  traders  with  Nor'westers, 
and  John  Jacob  Astor  attempted  the  same  ends  be- 
tween the  St.  Louis  and  New  York  companies,  so  a 
master  mind  arose  among  the  Russians,  grasping  the 
situation,  and  ready  to  cope  with  its  difficulties. 

This  was  Gregory  Ivanovich  Shelikoff,  a  fur  trader 

1  Over  one   hundred  American  ships  had  been  on  the  Pacific  coast  of  America 
before  1812. 


304         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

of  Siberia,  accompanied  to  America  and  seconded  by 
his  wife,  Natalie,  who  succeeded  in  carrying  out  many 
of  his  plans  after  his  death.  Shelikoff  owned  shares 
in  two  of  the  principal  Russian  companies.  When  he 
came  to  America  accompanied  by  his  wife,  Baranof, 
another  trader,  and  two  hundred  men  in  1784,  the 
Russian  headquarters  were  still  at  Oonalaska  in  the 
Aleutians.  Only  desultory  expeditions  had  gone  east- 
ward. Foreign  ships  had  already  come  among  the 
Russian  hunting-grounds  of  the  north.  These  Sheli- 
koff at  once  checkmated  by  moving  Russian  head- 
quarters east  to  Three  Saints,  Kadiak.  Savages  warned 
him  from  the  island,  threatening  death  to  the  Aleut 
Indian  hunters  he  had  brought.  Shelikoff's  answer  was 
a  load  of  presents  to  the  hostile  messenger.  That  fail- 
ing, he  took  advantage  of  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  as  a 
sign  to  the  superstitious  Indians  that  the  coming  of 
the  Russians  was  noted  and  blessed  of  Heaven.  The 
unconvinced  Kadiak  savages  responded  by  ambush- 
ing the  first  Russians  to  leave  camp,  and  showering 
arrows  on  the  Russian  boats.  Shelikoff  gathered  up 
his  men,  sallied  forth,  whipped  the  Indians  off  their 
feet,  took  four  hundred  prisoners,  treated  them  well, 
and  so  won  the  friendship  of  the  islanders.  From  the 
new  quarters  hunters  were  despatched  eastward  under 
Baranof  and  others  as  far  as  what  is  now  Sitka.  These 
yearly  came  back  with  cargoes  of  sea-otter  worth  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  Shelikoff  at  once  saw  that 
if  the  Russian  traders  were  to  hold  their  own  against 


RUSSIAN  AMERICAN  FUR  COMPANY   305 

the  foreign  adventurers  of  all  nations  flocking  to  the 
Pacific,  headquarters  must  be  moved  still  farther  east- 
ward, and  the  prestige  of  the  Russian  government 
invoked  to  exclude  foreigners.  There  were,  in  fact, 
no  limits  to  the  far-sighted  ambitions  of  the  man. 
Ships  were  to  be  despatched  to  California  setting  up 
signs  of  Russian  possession.  Forts  -in  Hawaii  could 
be  used  as  a  mid-Pacific  arsenal  and  halfway  house 
for  the  Russian  fleet  that  was  to  dominate  the  North 
Pacific.  A  second  Siberia  on  the  west  coast  of 
America,  with  limits  eastward  as  vague  as  the  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company's  claims  westward,  was  to  be 
added  to  the  domains  of  the  Czar.  Whether  the  idea 
of  declaring  the  North  Pacific  a  closed  sea  as  Spain 
had  declared  the  South  Pacific  a  closed  sea  till  Francis 
Drake  opened  it,  originated  in  the  brain  of  ShelikofF, 
or  his  successors,  is  immaterial.  It  was  the  aggran- 
dizement of  the  Russian  American  Fur  Company  as 
planned  by  ShelikofF  from  1784  to  1796,  that  led  to 
the  Russian  government  trying  to  exclude  foreign 
traders  from  the  North  Pacific  twenty-five  years  later, 
and  which  in  turn  led  to  the  declaration  of  the  famous 
Monroe  Doctrine  by  the  United  States  in  1823  —  that 
the  New  World  was  no  longer  to  be  the  happy  hunting- 
ground  of  Old  World  nations  bent  on  conquest  and 
colonization. 

Like  many  who  dream  greatly,  ShelikofF  did  not 
live  to  see  his  plans  carried  out.  He  died  in  Irkutsk 
in  1795;  but  in  St.  Petersburg,  when  pressing  upon 


3o6          VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

the  government  the  necessity  of  uniting  all  the  indepen- 
dent traders  in  one  all-powerful  company  to  be  given 
exclusive  monopoly  on  the  west  coast  of  America,  he 
had  met  and  allied  himself  with  a  young  courtier, 
Nikolai  Rezanoff.1  When  Shelikoff  died,  Rezanoff  it 
was  who  obtained  from  the  Czar  in  1799  a  charter  for 
the  Russian  American  Fur  Company,  giving  it  ex- 
clusive monopoly  for  hunting,  trading,  and  exploring 
north  of  55°  in  the  Pacific.  Other  companies  were 
compelled  either  to  withdraw  or  join.  Royalty  took 
shares  in  the  venture.  Shareholders  of  St.  Peters- 
burg were  to  direct  affairs,  and  Baranof,  the  governor, 
resident  in  America,  to  have  power  of  life  and  death, 
despotic  as  a  czar.  By  1800  the  capital  of  Russian 
America  had  been  moved  down  to  the  modern  Sitka, 
called  Archangel  Michael  in  the  trust  of  the  Lord's 
anointed  protecting  these  plunderers  of  the  sea.  Sheli- 
koff's  dreams  were  coming  true.  Russia  was  check- 
mating the  advances  of  England  and  the  United  States 
and  New  Spain.  Schemes  were  in  the  air  with  Bara- 
nof for  the  impressment  of  Siberian  exiles  as  peasant 
farmers  among  the  icebergs  of  Prince  William  Sound, 
for  the  remission  of  one-tenth  tribute  in  furs  from  the 
Aleuts  on  condition  of  free  service  as  hunters  with  the 
company,  and  for  the  employment  of  Aster's  ships  as 
purveyors  of  provisions  to  Sitka,  when  there  fell  a  bolt 

1  Rezanoff  married  the  fur  trader's  daughter.  The  bride  did  not  live  long ;  nor 
does  the  union  seem  to  have  been  a  love  affair ;  as  RezanofTs  infatuation  with  the 
daughter  of  a  Spanish  don  later  seemed  to  indicate  a  heart-free  lover. 


RUSSIAN  AMERICAN  FUR  COMPANY  307 

from  the  blue  that  well-nigh  wiped  Russian  possession 
from  the  face  of  America. 

It  was  a  sleepy  summer  afternoon  toward  the  end 
of  June  in  1802.  Baranof  had  left  a  guard  of  twenty 
or  thirty  Russians  at  Sitka  and,  confident  that  all  was 
well,  had  gone  north  to  Kadiak.  Aleut  Indians,  im- 
pressed as  hunters,  were  about  the  fort,  for  the  fiery 
Kolosh  or  Sitkans  of  this  region  would  not  bow  the 
neck  to  Russian  tyranny.  Safe  in  the  mountain  fast- 
nesses behind  the  fort,  they  refused  to  act  as  slaves. 
How  they  regarded  this  invasion  of  their  hunting- 
ground  by  alien  Indians  —  Indians  acting  as  slaves 
—  may  be  guessed.1  Whether  rival  traders,  deserters 
from  an  American  ship,  living  with  the  Sitkan  Indians, 
instigated  the  conspiracy  cannot  be  known.  I  have 
before  me  letters  written  by  a  fur  trader  of  a  rival  com- 
pany at  that  time,  declaring  if  a  certain  trader  did  not 
cease  bis  methods,  that  "pills  would  be  bought  at 
Montreal  with  as  good  poison  as  pills  from  London;'1 
and  the  sentiment  of  the  writer  gives  a  true  idea  of  the 
code  that  prevailed  among  American  fur  traders. 

The  fort  at  that  time  occupied  a  narrow  strip  between 
a  dense  forest  and  the  rocky  water  front  a  few  miles 
north  of  the  present  site.  Whether  the  renegade 
American  sailors  living  in  the  forests  with  the  Kolosh 
betrayed  all  the  inner  plans  of  the  fort,  or  the  squaws 
daily  passing  in  and  out  with  berries  kept  their  country- 

'  See  Chapter  XII. 


3o8  VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

men  informed  of  Russian  movements,  the  blow  was 
struck  when  the  whites  were  off  guard.  It  was  a  holi- 
day. Half  the  Russians  were  outside  the  palisades 
unarmed,  fishing.  The  remaining  fifteen  men  seem 
to  have  been  upstairs  about  midday  in  the  rooms  of 
the  commander,  MedvednikofF.  Suddenly  the  sleepy 
sentry  parading  the  balcony  noticed  Michael,  chief 
of  the  Kolosh,  standing  on  the  shore  shouting  at  sixty 
canoes  to  land  quickly.  Simultaneously  the  patter 
of  moccasined  feet  came  from  the  dense  forest  to  the 
rear  —  a  thousand  Kolosh  warriors,  every  Indian 
armed  and  wearing  the  death-mask  of  battle.  Before 
the  astounded  sentry  could  sound  an  alarm,  such  a 
hideous  uproar  of  shouts  arose  as  might  have  come  from 
bedlam  let  loose.  The  Indian  always  imitates  the 
cries  of  the  wild  beast  when  he  fights  —  imitates  or  sets 
free  the  wild  beast  in  his  own  nature.  For  a  moment 
the  Russians  were  too  dumfounded  to  collect  their 
senses.  Then  women  and  children  dashed  for  refuge 
upstairs  in  the  main  building,  huddling  over  the  trap- 
door in  a  frenzy  of  fright.  Russians  outside  the  pali- 
sades ran  for  the  woods,  some  to  fall  lanced  through 
the  back  as  they  raced,  others  to  reach  shelter  of  the 
dense  forest,  where  they  lay  for  eight  days  under  hiding 
of  bark  and  moss  before  rescue  came.  Medved- 
nikofF, the  commander,  and  a  dozen  others,  seem  to 
have  hurled  themselves  downstairs  at  the  first  alarm, 
but  already  the  outer  doors  had  been  rammed.  The 
panels  of  the  inner  door  were  slashed  out.  A  flare  of 


RUSSIAN  AMERICAN  FUR  COMPANY   309 

musketry  met  the  Russians  full  in  the  face.  The  de- 
fenders dropped  to  a  man,  fearless  in  death  as  in  life, 
though  one  wounded  fellow  seems  to  have  dragged 
himself  to  the  balcony  where  he  succeeded  in  firing  off 
the  cannon  before  he  was  thrown  over  the  palisades,  to 
be  received  on  the  hostiles'  upturned  spears.  Mean- 
while wads  of  burning  birch  bark  and  moss  had  been 
tossed  into  the  fort  on  the  powder  magazines.  A  high 
wind  fanned  the  flames.  A  terrific  explosion  shook 
the  fort.  The  trap-door  where  the  women  huddled 
upstairs  gave  way.  Half  the  refugees  fell  through, 
where  they  were  either  butchered  or  perished  in  the 
flames.  The  others  plunged  from  the  burning  build- 
ing through  the  windows.  A  few  escaped  to  the  woods. 
The  rest  —  Aleut  women,  wives  of  the  Russians  - 
were  taken  captive  by  the  Kolosh.  Ships,  houses, 
fortress,  all  were  in  flames.  By  nightfall  nothing 
remained  of  Sitka  but  the  brass  and  iron  of  the 
melted  cannon.  The  hostiles  had  saved  loot  of  some 
two  thousand  sea-otter  skins. 

All  that  night,  and  for  eight  days  and  nights,  the 
refugees  of  the  forest  lay  hidden  under  bark  and  moss. 
Under  cover  of  darkness,  one,  a  herdsman,  ventured 
down  to  the  charred  ruins  of  Sitka.  The  mangled, 
headless  bodies  of  the  Russians  lay  in  the  ashes.  At 
noon  of  the  eighth  day  the  mountains  suddenly  rocked 
to  the  echo  of  two  cannon-shots  from  the  bay.  A  ship 
had  come.  Three  times  one  Russian  ventured  to  the 
shore,  and  three  times  was  chased  back  to  the  woods; 


3io 

but  he  had  seen  enough.  The  ship  was  an  English 
trader  under  Captain  Barber,  who  finally  heard  the 
shouts  of  the  pursued  man,  put  off  a  small  boat  and 
rescued  him.  Three  others  were  saved  from  the  woods 
in  the  same  way,  but  had  been  only  a  few  days  on  the 
ship,  when  Michael,  the  Kolosh  chief,  emboldened 
by  success,  rowed  out  with  a  young  warrior  and  asked 
the  English  captain  to  give  up  the  Russians.  Barber 
affected  not  to  understand,  lured  both  Indians  on 
board,  seized  them,  put  them  in  irons,  and  tied  them 
across  a  cannon  mouth,  when  he  demanded  the  res- 
toration of  all  captives  and  loot;  but  the  Sitkan  chief 
probably  had  his  own  account  of  who  suggested  the 
massacre.  Also  it  was  to  the  English  captain's  inter- 
ests to  remain  on  good  terms  with  the  Indians.  Any- 
way, the  twenty  captives  were  not  restored  till  two 
other  ships  had  entered  port,  and  sent  some  Kolosh 
canoes  to  bottom  with  grape-shot.  The  savages  were 
then  set  free,  and  hastening  up  to  Kadiak,  Barber 
levelled  his  cannon  at  the  Russian  fort  and  demanded 
thirty-seven  thousand  five  hundred  dollars'  salvage  for 
the  rescue  of  the  captives  and  loot.  Baranof  haggled 
the  Englishman  tired,  and  compromised  for  one-fifth  the 
demand. 

Two  years  passed,  and  the  fur  company  was  power- 
less to  strike  an  avenging  blow.  Wherever  the  Rus- 
sians led  Aleuts  into  the  Kolosh  hunting-grounds, 
there  had  been  ambush  and  massacre;  but  Baranof 


RUSSIAN  AMERICAN  FUR  COMPANY   311 

bided  his  time.  The  Aleut  Indian  hunters,  who  had 
become  panic-stricken,  gradually  regained  sufficient 
courage  again  to  follow  the  Russians  eastward.  By 
the  spring  of  1804  Baranof's  men  had  gathered  up 
eight  hundred  Aleut  Indians,  one  hundred  and  twenty 
Russian  hunters,  four  small  schooners,  and  two  sloops. 
The  Indians  in  their  light  boats  of  sea-lion  skin  on 
whalebone,  the  Russians  in  their  sail-boats,  Baranof 
set  out  in  April  from  St.  Paul,  Kadiak,  with  his  thousand 
followers  to  wreak  vengeance  on  the  tribes  of  Sitka. 
Sea-otter  were  hunted  on  the  way,  so  that  it  was  well 
on  in  September  before  the  brigades  entered  Sitka 
waters.  Meanwhile  aid  from  an  unexpected  quarter 
had  come  to  the  fur  company.  Lieutenant  Krusen- 
stern  had  prevailed  on  the  Russian  government  to 
send  supplies  to  the  Russian  American  Company  by 
two  vessels  around  the  world  instead  of  caravans  across 
Siberia.  With  Krusenstern  went  Rezanoff,  who  had 
helped  the  fur  traders  to  obtain  their  charter,  and  was 
now  commissioned  to  open  an  embassy  to  Japan.  The 
second  vessel  under  Captain  Lisiansky  proceeded  at 
once  to  Baranof's  aid  at  Sitka. 

Baranof  was  hunting  when  Lisiansky's  man-of-war 
entered  the  gloomy  wilds  of  Sitka  Sound.  The  fur 
company's  two  sloops  lay  at  anchor  with  lanterns 
swinging  bow  and  stern  to  guide  the  hunters  home. 
The  eight  hundred  hostiles  had  fortified  themselves 
behind  the  site  of  the  modern  Sitka.  Palisades  the 
depth  of  two  spruce  logs  ran  across  the  front  of  the 


312         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

rough  barricade,  loopholed  for  musketry,  and  pro- 
tected by  a  sort  of  cheval-de-frise  of  brushwood  and 
spines.  At  the  rear  of  the  enemy's  fort  ran  sally  ports 
leading  to  the  ambush  of  the  woods,  and  inside  were 
huts  enough  to  house  a  small  town.  By  the  28th  of 
September  Baranof's  Aleut  Indian  hunters  had  come 
in  and  camped  alongshore  under  protection  of  can- 
non sent  close  inland  on  a  small  boat.  It  was  a 
weird  scene  that  the  Russian  officers  witnessed,  the 
enemy's  fort,  unlighted  and  silent  as  death,  the  Aleut 
hunters  alongshore  dancing  themselves  into  a  frenzy 
of  bravado,  the  spruce  torches  of  the  coast  against  the 
impenetrable  forest  like  fireflies  in  a  thicket;  an  occa- 
sional fugitive  canoe  from  the  enemy  attempting  to 
steal  through  the  darkness  out  of  the  harbor,  only  to 
be  blown  to  bits  by  a  cannon-shot.  The  ships  began 
to  line  up  and  land  field-pieces  for  action,  when  a 
Sitkan  came  out  with  overtures  of  peace.  Baranof 
gave  him  the  present  of  a  gay  coat,  told  him  the  fort 
must  be  surrendered,  and  chiefs  sent  to  the  Russians 
as  hostages  of  good  conduct.  Thirty  warriors  came 
the  next  day,  but  the  whites  insisted  on  chiefs  as  hos- 
tages, and  the  braves  retired.  On  October  the  first 
a  white  flag  was  run  up  on  the  ship  of  war.  No  signal 
answered  from  the  barricade.  The  Russian  ships  let 
blaze  all  the  cannon  simultaneously,  only  to  find  that 
the  double  logs  of  the  barricade  could  not  be  pene- 
trated. No  return  fire  came  from  the  Sitkans.  Two 
small  boats  were  then  landed  to  destroy  the  enemy's 


RUSSIAN  AMERICAN  FUR  COMPANY   313 

stores.  Still  not  a  sign  from  the  barricade.  Raging 
with  impatience,  Baranof  went  ashore  supported  by 
one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  with  a  wild  halloo  led 
the  way  to  rush  the  fort.  The  hostile  Sitkans  husbanded 
their  strength  with  a  coolness  equal  to  the  famous  thin 
red  line  of  British  fame.  Not  a  signal,  not  a  sound, 
not  the  faintest  betrayal  of  their  strength  or  weakness 
till  in  the  dusk  Baranof  was  within  gunshot  of  the  logs, 
when  his  men  were  met  with  a  solid  wall  of  fire.  The 
Aleuts  stopped,  turned,  stampeded.  Out  sallied  the 
Sitkans  pursuing  Russians  and  Aleuts  to  the  water's 
edge,  where  the  body  of  one  dead  Russian  was  bran- 
dished on  spear  ends.  In  the  sortie  fourteen  of  the 
Russian  forces  were  killed,  twenty-six  wounded,  among 
whom  was  Baranof,  shot  through  the  shoulder.  The 
guns  of  the  war  ship  were  all  that  saved  the  retreat 
from  a  panic. 

Lisiansky  then  undertook  the  campaign,  letting 
drive  such  a  brisk  fire  the  next  day  that  the  Sitkans 
came  suing  for  peace  by  the  afternoon.  Three  days 
the  cunning  savages  stayed  the  Russian  attack  on  pre- 
tence of  arranging  hostages.  Hailing  the  fort  on  the 
morning  of  the  6th  and  securing  no  answer,  Lisiansky 
again  played  his  cannon  on  the  barricade.  That 
night  a  curious  sound,  that  was  neither  chant  nor  war- 
cry,  came  from  the  thick  woods.  At  daylight  carrion 
crows  were  seen  circling  above  the  barricade.  Three 
hundred  Russians  landed.  Approaching  cautiously 
for  fear  of  ambuscade,  they  clambered  over  the  pali- 


3i4         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

sades  and  looked.  The  fort  was  deserted.  Naught 
of  the  Sitkans  remained  but  thirty  dead  warriors  and 
all  their  children,  murdered  during  the  night  to  pre- 
vent their  cries  betraying  the  retreat. 

New  Archangel,  as  it  was  called,  was  built  on  the 
site  of  the  present  Sitka.  Sixteen  short  and  forty-two 
long  cannon  mounted  the  walls.  As  many  as  seven 
hundred  officers  and  men  were  sometimes  on  garrison 
duty.  Twelve  officers  frequently  dined  at  the  gov- 
ernor's table;  and  here,  in  spite  of  bishops  and  priests 
and  deacons  who  later  came  on  the  ground,  the  revel- 
lers of  the  Russian  fur  hunters  held  high  carnival. 
Thirty-six  forts  and  twelve  vessels  the  Russian  Ameri- 
can fur  hunters  owned  twenty  years  after  the  loss  of 
Sitka.  New  Archangel  became  more  important  to 
the  Pacific  than  San  Francisco.  Nor  was  it  a  mistake 
to  move  the  capital  so  far  south.  Within  a  few  years 
Russian  traders  and  their  Indians  were  north  as  far 
as  the  Yukon,  south  hunting  sea-otter  as  far  as  Santa 
Barbara.  To  enumerate  but  a  few  of  the  American 
vessels  that  yearly  hunted  sea-otter  for  the  Russians 
southward  of  Oregon  and  California,  taking  in  pay 
skins  of  the  seal  islands,  would  fill  a  coasting  list. 
RezanofF,  who  had  failed  to  open  the  embassy  to  Japan 
and"  so  came  across  to  America,  spent  two  months  in 
Monterey  and  San  Francisco  trying  to  arrange  with 
the  Spaniards  to  supply  the  Russians  with  provisions. 
He  was  received  coldly  by  the  Spanish  governor  till 


RUSSIAN  AMERICAN  FUR  COMPANY   315 

a  love  affair  sprang  up  with  the  daughter  of  the  don, 
so  ardent  that  the  Russian  must  depart  post-haste 
across  Siberia  for  the  Czar's  sanction  to  the  marriage^ 
Worn  out  by  the  midwinter  journey,  he  died  on  his 
way  across  Siberia. 

Later,  in  1812,  when  the  Russian  coasters  were  refused 
watering  privileges  at  San  Francisco,  the  Russian  Ameri- 
can Company  bought  land  near  Bodega,  and  settled 
their  famous  Ross,  or  California  colony,  with  cannon, 
barracks,  arsenal,  church,  workshops,  and  sometimes 
a  population  of  eight  hundred  Kadiak  Indians.  Here 
provisions  were  gathered  for  Sitka,  and  hunters  de- 
spatched for  sea-otter  of  the  south.  The  massacres 
on  the  Yukon  and  the  clashes  with  the  Hudson's  Bay 
traders  are  a  story  by  themselves.  The  other  doings 
of  these  "Sea  Voyagers"  became  matters  of  inter- 
national history  when  they  tried  to  exclude  American 
and  British  traders  from  the  Pacific.  The  fur  hunters 
in  the  main  were  only  carrying  out  the  far-reaching 
plans  of  Shelikoff,  who  originated  the  charter  for  the 
company;  but  even  Shelikoff  could  hardly  foresee  that 
the  country  which  the  Russian  government  was  willing 
to  sell  to  the  United  States  in  1867  for  seven  million 
dollars,  would  produce  more  than  twice  that  during  a 
single  year  in  gold.  To-day  all  that  remains  to  Russia 
of  these  sea  voyagers'  plundering  are  two  small  islands, 
Copper  and  Bering  in  Bering  Sea. 


CHAPTER   XII 

1747-1818 
BARANOF,  THE   LITTLE   CZAR   OF  THE    PACIFIC 

Baranof  lays  the  Foundations  of  Russian  Empire  on  the  Pacific  Coast 
of  America  —  Shipwrecked  on  his  Way  to  Alaska,  he  yet  holds 
his  Men  in  Hand  and  turns  the  Ill-hap  to  Advantage  —  How  he 
bluffs  the  Rival  Fur  Companies  in  Line  —  First  Russian  Ship  built 
in  America  —  Adventures  leading  the  Sea-otter  Hunters  —  Am- 
bushed by  the  Indians  —  The  Founding  of  Sitka  —  Baranof,  cast 
off  in  his  Old  Age,  dies  of  Broken  Heart 

No  wilder  lord  of  the  wild  northland  ever  existed 
than  that  old  madcap  Viking  of  the  Pacific,  Alex- 
ander Baranof,  governor  of  the  Russian  fur  traders. 
For  thirty  years  he  ruled  over  the  west  coast  of  America 
from  Alaska  to  southern  California  despotic  as  a  czar. 
And  he  played  the  game  single-handed,  no  retinue  but 
convicts  from  Siberia,  no  subjects  but  hostile  Indians. 

Whether  leading  the  hunting  brigades  of  a  thousand 
men  over  the  sea  in  skin  canoes  light  as  cork,  or  rally- 
ing his  followers  ambushed  by  hostiles  repelling  in- 
vasion of  their  hunting-ground,  or  drowning  hardships 
with  seas  of  fiery  Russian  brandy  in  midnight  carou- 
sals, Baranof  was  supreme  autocrat.  Drunk  or 

316 


Alexander  Baranof. 


BARANOF,  THE    LITTLE    CZAR     317 

sober,  he  was  master  of  whatever  came,  mutineers  or 
foreign  traders  planning  to  oust  Russians  from  the 
coast  of  America.  Baranof  stood  for  all  that  was  best 
and  all  that  was  worst  in  that  heroic  period  of  Pacific 
coast  history  when  adventurers  from  all  corners  of  the 
earth  roamed  the  otter-hunting  grounds  in  quest  of 
fortune.  Each  man  was  a  law  unto  himself.  There 
was  fear  of  neither  man  nor  devil.  The  whole  era 
might  have  been  a  page  from  the  hero  epic  of  prehis- 
toric days  when  earth  was  young,  and  men  ranged  the 
seas  unhampered  by  conscience  or  custom,  magnificent 
beasts  of  prey,  glorying  in  freedom  and  bloodshed  and 
the  warring  elements. 

Yet  in  person  Baranof  was  far  from  a  hero.  He 
was  wizened,  sallow,  small,  a  margin  of  red  hair  round 
a  head  bald  as  a  bowl,  grotesque  under  a  black  wig 
tied  on  with  a  handkerchief.  And  he  had  gone  up  in 
life  much  the  way  a  monkey  climbs,  by  shifts  and 
scrambles  and  prehensile  hoists  with  frequent  falls. 
It  was  an  ill  turn  of  fortune  that  sent  him  to  America 
in  the  first  place.  He  had  been  managing  a  glass 
factory  at  Irkutsk,  Siberia,  where  the  endless  caravans 
of  fur  traders  passed.  Born  at  Kargopol,  East  Russia, 
in  1747,  he  had  drifted  to  Moscow,  set  up  in  a  shop  for 
himself  at  twenty-four,  failed  in  business,  and  emigrated 
to  Siberia  at  thirty-five.  Tales  of  profit  in  the  fur 
trade  were  current  at  Irkutsk.  Tired  of  stagnating  in 
what  was  an  absolutely  safe  but  unutterably  monoto- 
nous life,  Baranof  left  the  factory  and  invested  all  his 


3i8         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

savings  in  the  fur  trade  to  the  Indians  of  northern 
Siberia  and  Kamchatka.  For  some  years  all  went 
well.  Baranof  invested  deeper,  borrowing  -for  his 
ventures.  Then  the  Chukchee  Indians  swooped  down 
on  his  caravans,  stampeded  the  pack  horses,  scuttled 
the  goods,  and  Baranof  was  a  bankrupt.  The  rival 
fur  companies  on  the  west  coast  of  America  were  now 
engaged  in  the  merry  game  of  cutting  each  other's 
throats  — literally  and  without  restraint.  A  strong  hand 
was  needed  —  a  hand  that  could  weld  the  warring  ele- 
ments into  one,  and  push  Russian  trade  far  down  from 
Alaska  to  New  Spain,  driving  off  the  field  those  foreigners 
whose  relentless  methods  —  liquor,  bludgeon,  musket  — 
were  demoralizing  the  Indian  sea-otter  hunters. 

Destitute  and  bankrupt,  Baranof  was  offered  one- 
sixth  of  the  profits  to  become  governor  of  the  chief 
Russian  company.  On  August  10,  1790,  about  the 
same  time  that  John  Jacob  Astor  also  embarked  in 
the  fur  trade  that  was  to  bring  him  in  contact  with 
the  Russians,  Baranof  sailed  to  America. 

Fifty-two  men  the  ragamuffin  crew  numbered, 
exiles,  convicts,  branded  criminals,  raggedly  clad  and 
ill-fed,  sleeping  wherever  they  could  on  the  littered  and 
vermin-infested  decks ;  for  what  did  the  lives  of  a  convict 
crew  matter  ?  Below  decks  was  crammed  to  the  water- 
line  with  goods  for  trade.  All  thought  for  furs,  small 
care  for  men ;  and  a  few  days  out  from  port,  the  water- 
casks  were  found  to  be  leaking  so  badly  that  allowance 


BARANOF,  THE    LITTLE    CZAR     319 

of  drinking  water  was  reduced ;  and  before  the  equi- 
noctial gales,  scurvy  had  already  disabled  the  crew. 
Baranof  did  not  turn  back,  nor  allow  the  strong  hand 
of  authority  to  relax  over  his  men  as  poor  Bering  had. 
He  ordered  all  press  of  sail,  and  with  the  winds  whis- 
tling through  the  rigging  and  the  little  ship  straining  to 
the  smashing  seas,  did  his  best  to  outspeed  disease, 
sighting  the  long  line  of  surf-washed  Aleutian  Islands 
in  September,  coasting  from  headland  to  headland, 
keeping  well  offshore  for  fear  of  reefs  till  the  end  of  the 
month,  when  compelled  to  turn  in  to  the  mid-bay  of 
Oonalaska  for  water.  There  was  no  ignoring  the 
danger  of  the  landing.  A  shore  like  the  walls  of  a 
giant  rampart  with  reefs  in  the  teeth  of  a  saw,  lashed 
to  a  fury  by  beach  combers,  offered  poor  escape 
from  death  by  scurvy.  Nevertheless,  Baranof  effected 
anchorage  at  Koshigin  Bay,  sent  the  small  boats 
ashore  for  water,  watched  his  chance  of  a  seaward 
breeze,  and  ran  out  to  sea  again  in  one  desperate  effort 
to  reach  Kadiak,  the  headquarters  of  the  fur  traders, 
before  winter.  Outside  the  shelter  of  the  harbor, 
wind  and  seas  met  the  ship.  She  was  driven  helpless 
as  a  chip  in  a  whirlpool  straight  for  the  granite  rocks 
of  the  shore,  where  she  smashed  to  pieces  like  the 
broken  staves  of  a  dry  water-barrel.  Led  by  the  in- 
domitable Baranof,  who  seemed  to  meet  the  challenge 
of  the  very  elements,  the  half-drowned  crew  crawled 
ashore  only  to  be  ordered  to  save  the  cargo  now  rolling 
up  in  the  wave  wash. 


320         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

When  darkness  settled  over  the  sea  on  the  last  night 
of  September,  Baranof  was  in  the  same  predicament  as 
Bering  —  a  castaway  for  the  winter  on  a  barren  island. 
Instead  of  sinking  under  the  redoubled  blows  of  an 
adverse  fate,  the  little  Russian  rebounded  like  a  rubber 
ball.  A  messenger  and  some  Indians  were  at  once 
despatched  in  a  skin  boat  to  coast  from  island  to  island 
in  an  effort  to  get  help  from  Kadiak.  Meanwhile 
Baranof  did  not  sit  lamenting  with  folded  hands;  and 
well  that  he  did  not;  for  his  messengers  never  reached 
Kadiak. 

Holes  were  at  once  scooped  out  of  the  sand,  and  the 
caves  roofed  over  with  the  remnants  of  the  wreck. 
These  underground  huts  on  an  island  destitute  of  wood 
were  warmer  than  surface  cabins,  and  better  withstood 
the  terrible  north  winds  that  swept  down  from  the 
Arctic  with  such  force  that  for  two  months  at  a  time 
the  men  could  go  outside  only  by  crawling  under 
shelter  of  the  boulders.  Ammunition  was  distributed 
to  the  fifty  castaways;  salmon  bought  from  the  Indians, 
whom  Baranof's  fair  treatment  won  from  the  first; 
once  a  week,  rye  meal  was  given  out  for  soup ;  and  for 
the  rest,  the  men  had  to  depend  on  the  eggs  of  sea- 
birds,  that  flocked  over  the  precipitous  shores  in  myr- 
iads, or  on  the  sea-lions  roaring  till  the  surf  shook 
on  the  rocky  islets  along  the  shore. 

If  there  is  one  characteristic  more  than  another  that 
proves  a  man  master  of  destiny,  it  is  ability  not  only  to 
meet  misfortune  but  to  turn  it  to  advantage  when  it 


BARANOF,  THE    LITTLE    CZAR    321 

comes.  While  waiting  for  the  rescue  that  never  came, 
Baranof  studied  the  language  of  the  Aleuts,  sent  his 
men  among  them  to  learn  to  hunt,  rode  out  to  sea  in 
their  frail  skin  boats  lashed  abreast  to  keep  from 
swamping  during  storm,  slept  at  night  on  the  beach 
with  no  covering  but  the  overturned  canoes,  and,  shar- 
ing every  hardship,  set  traps  with  his  own  hands. 
When  the  weather  was  too  boisterous  for  hunting,  he 
set  his  people  boiling  salt  from  sea-water  to  dry  supplies 
of  fish  for  the  summer,  or  replenishing  their  ragged 
clothes  by  making  coats  of  birds'  skin.  The  last  week 
before  Easter,  provisions  were  so  low  the  whole  crew 
were  compelled  to  indulge  in  a  Lenten  fast;  but  on 
Easter  Monday,  behold  a  putrid  whale  thrown  ashore 
by  the  storm !  The  fast  was  followed  by  a  feast.  The 
winds  subsided,  and  hunters  brought  in  sea-lions. 

It  was  quite  apparent  now  no  help  was  coming  from 
Kadiak.  Baranof  had  three  large  boats  made  of  skin 
and  wreckage.  One  he  left  with  the  men,  who  were  to 
guard  the  remnants  of  the  cargo.  A  second  he  de- 
spatched with  twenty-six  men.  In  the  third  he  himself 
embarked,  now  in  a  raging  fever  from  the  exposure  of 
the  winter.  A  year  all  but  ^a  month  from  the  time  he 
had  left  Asia,  Baranof  reached  Three  Saints,  Kadiak, 
on  June  27,  1791. 

Things  were  black  enough  when  Baranof  landed  at 
Kadiak.  The  settlement  of  Three  Saints  had  been 
depending  on  the  supplies  of  his  wrecked  ship;  and 


322         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

when  he  arrived,  himself  in  need,  discontent  flared  to 
open  mutiny.  Five  different  rival  companies  had  de- 
moralized the  Indians  by  supplying  them  with  liquor, 
and  egging  them  on  to  raid  other  traders.  Southward, 
toward  Nootka,  were  hosts  of  foreign  ships  —  Gray 
and  Kendrick  and  Ingraham  from  Boston,  Vancouver 
from  England,  Meares  from  East  India,  Quadra  from 
New  Spain,  private  ventures  outfitted  by  Astor  from 
New  York.  If  Russia  were  to  preserve  her  hunting- 
grounds,  no  time  should  be  lost. 

Baranof  met  the  difficulties  like  a  commander  of 
guerilla  warfare.  Brigades  were  sent  eastward  to  the 
fishing-ground  of  Cook's  Inlet  for  supplies.  Incipient 
mutiny  was  quelled  by  sending  more  hunters  off  with 
Ismyloff  to  explore  new  sea-otter  fields  in  Prince  Will- 
iam Sound.  As  for  the  foreign  fur  traders,  he  con- 
ceived the  brilliant  plan  of  buying  food  from  them  in 
exchange  for  Russian  furs  and  of  supplying  them  with 
brigades  of  Aleut  Island  hunters  to  scour  the  Pacific 
for  sea-otter  from  Nootka  and  the  Columbia  to  southern 
California.  This  would  not  only  add  to  stores  of  Rus- 
sian furs,  but  push  Russian  dominion  southward,  and 
keep  other  nations  off  the  field. 

That  it  was  not  all  plain  sailing  on  a  summer  day 
may  be  inferred  from  one  incident.  He  had  led 
out  a  brigade  of  several  hundred  canoes,  Indians  and 
Russians,  to  Nuchek  Island,  off  Prince  William  Sound. 
Though  he  had  tried  to  win  the  friendship  of  the  coast 
Indians  by  gifts,  it  was  necessary  to  steal  from  point 


BARANOF,  THE    LITTLE    CZAR    323 

to  point  at  night,  and  to  hide  at  many  places  as  he 
coasted  the  mainland.  Throwing  up  some  sort  of 
rough  barricade  at  Nuchek  Island,  he  sent  the  most  of 
his  men  off  to  fish  and  remained  with  only  sixteen 
Aleuts  and  Russians.  It  was  perfectly  natural  that  the 
Alaskan  Indians  should  resent  the  Aleuts  intruding  on 
the  hunting-grounds  of  the  main  coast,  one  thousand 
miles  from  the  Aleutian  Islands.  Besides,  the  main- 
land Indians  had  now  learned  unscrupulous  brutality 
from  foreign  traders.  Baranof  knew  his  danger  and 
never  relaxed  vigilance.  Of  the  sixteen  men,  five 
always  stood  sentry  at  night. 

The  night  of  June  20  was  pitch  dark.  Terrific  seas 
were  running,  and  a  tempest  raged  through  the  woods 
of  the  mainland.  For  safety,  IsmylofFs  ship  had 
scudded  to  the  offing.  Baranof  had  undressed,  thrown 
himself  down  in  his  cabin,  and  was  in  the  deep  sleep  of 
outdoor  exhaustion,  when  above  the  howling  of  the 
gale,  not  five  steps  away,  so  close  it  was  impossible  to 
distinguish  friend  from  foe  in  the  darkness,  arose  the 
shrill  war-cry  of  hostiles.  Leaping  to  his  feet,  Baranof 
rushed  out  undressed.  His  shirt  was  torn  to  shreds 
by  a  shower  of  flint  and  copper-head  arrows.  In  the 
dark,  the  Russians  could  only  fire  blindly.  The  panic- 
stricken  Aleuts  dashed  for  their  canoes  to  escape  to 
IsmylofFs  ship.  IsmylofF  sent  armed  Russians  through 
the  surf  wash  and  storm  to  Baranof's  aid.  Baranof 
kept  his  small  cannon  pounding  hot  shot  where  the 
shouts  sounded  till  daylight.  Of  the  sixteen  men,  two 


324         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

Russians  and  nine  Aleuts  were  dead.  Of  the  men 
who  came  to  his  aid,  fifteen  were  wounded.  The 
corpses  of  twelve  hostiles  lay  on  the  beach;  and  as 
gray  dawn  came  over  the  tempestuous  sea,  six  large 
war  canoes  vanished  into  the  morning  mist,  a  long 
trail  of  blood  over  the  waves  showing  that  the  hostiles 
were  carrying  off"  their  wounded.  Well  might  Baranof 
write,  "I  will  vanquish  a  cruel  fate;  or  fall  under  its 
repeated  blows."  The  most  of  men  would  have 
thought  they  had  sufficient  excuse  to  justify  backing 
out  of  their  difficulties.  Baranof  locked  grapples  with 
the  worst  that  destiny  could  do;  and  never  once  let 
go.  Sometimes  the  absolute  futility  of  so  much  striv- 
ing, so  much  hardship,  so  much  peril,  all  for  the  sake 
of  the  crust  of  bread  that  represents  mere  existence, 
sent  him  down  to  black  depths  of  rayless  despondency, 
when  he  asked  himself,  was  life  worth  while  ?  But  he 
never  let  go  his  grip,  his  sense  of  resistance,  his  impulse 
to  fight  the  worst,  the  unshunnable  obligation  of  being 
alive  and  going  on  with  the  game,  succeed  or  fail. 
Such  fits  of  despair  might  end  in  wild  carousals,  when 
he  drank  every  Russian  under  the  table,  outshouted 
the  loudest  singer,  and  perhaps  wound  up  by  throwing 
the  roomful  of  revellers  out  of  doors.  But  he  rose 
from  the  depths  of  debauch  and  despair,  and  went  on 
with  the  game.  That  was  the  main  point. 

The  terrible  position  to  which  loss  of  supplies  had 
reduced  the  traders  of  Kadiak  when  his  own  vessel 


BARANOF,  THE    LITTLE    CZAR     325 

was  wrecked  at  Oonalaska  on  the  way  out,  demon- 
strated to  Baranof  the  need  of  more  ships;  so  when 
orders  came  from  his  company  in  1793  to  construct  a 
sailing  boat  on  the  timberless  island  of  Kadiak  without 
iron,  without  axes,  without  saw,  without  tar,  without 
canvas,  he  was  eager  to  attempt  the  impossible. 
Shields,  an  Englishman,  in  the  employment  of  Russia, 
was  to  act  as  shipbuilder;  and  Baranof  sent  the  men 
assigned  for  the  work  up  to  Sunday  Harbor  on  the 
west  side  of  Prince  William  Sound,  where  heavy  forests 
would  supply  timber  and  the  tide-rush  help  to  launch 
the  vessel  from  the  skids.  There  were  no  saws  in  the 
settlement.  Planks  had  to  be  hewn  out  of  logs.  Iron, 
there  was  none.  The  rusty  remnants  of  old  wrecks 
were  gathered  together  for  bolts  and  joints  and  axes. 
Spruce  gum  mixed  with  blubber  oil  took  the  place  of 
oakum  and  tar  below  the  water-line.  Moss  and  clay 
were  used  as  calking  above  water.  For  sail  cloth, 
there  was  nothing  but  shreds  and  rags  and  tatters  of 
canvas  patched  together  so  that  each  mast-arm  looked 
like  Joseph's  coat  of  many  colors.  Seventy-nine  feet 
from  stem  to  stern,  the  crazy  craft  measured,  of  twenty- 
three  feet  beam,  thirteen  draught,  one  hundred  tons,  two 
decks,  and  three  masts.  All  the  winter  of  1792-1793, 
just  a  year  after  Robert  Gray,  the  American,  had  built 
his  sloop  down  at  Fort  Defence  off  Vancouver  Island, 
the  Russian  shipbuilding  went  on.  Then  in  April, 
lest  the  poverty  of  the  Russians  should  become  known 
to  foreign  traders,  Baranof  sent  Shields,  the  English 


326         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

shipbuilder,  off  out  of  the  way,  on  an  otter-hunting 
venture.  It  was  August  of  the  next  summer  before  the 
clumsy  craft  slipped  from  the  skids  into  the  rising  tide. 
She  was  so  badly  ballasted  that  she  bobbled  like  cork; 
and  her  sails  so  frail  they  flew  to  tatters  in  the  gentlest 
wind;  but  Russia  had  accomplished  her  first  ship  in 
America.  Bells  were  set  ringing  when  the  Phoenix 
was  towed  into  the  harbor  of  Kadiak;  and  when  she 
reached  Okhotsk  laden  with  furs  to  the  water-line  in 
April  of  1794,  enthusiasm  knew  no  bounds.  Salvos  of 
artillery  thundered  over  her  sails,  and  mass  was  chanted, 
and  a  polish  of  paint  given  to  her  piebald,  rickety  sides 
that  transformed  her  into  what  the  fur  company  proudly 
regarded  as  a  frigate.  Before  the  year  was  out,  Baranof 
had  his  men  at  work  on  two  more  vessels.  There  was 
to  be  no  more  crippling  of  trade  for  lack  of  ships. 

But  a  more  serious  matter  than  shipbuilding  de- 
manded Baranof's  attention.  Rival  fur  companies 
were  on  the  ground.  Did  one  party  of  traders  establish 
a  fort  on  Cook's  Inlet  ?  Forthwith  came  another  to  a 
point  higher  up  the  inlet,  where  Indians  could  be  in- 
tercepted. There  followed  warlike  raids,  the  pillaging 
of  each  other's  forts,  the  capture  of  each  other's  Indian 
hunters,  the  utter  demoralization  of  the  Indians  by 
each  fort  forbidding  the  savages  to  trade  at  the  other, 
the  flogging  and  bludgeoning  and  butchering  of  those 
who  disobeyed  the  order  —  and  finally,  the  forcible  ab- 
duction of  whole  villages  of  women  and  children  to  com- 
pel the  alliance  of  the  hunters.  All  Baranof's  work  to 


BARANOF,  THE    LITTLE    CZAR     327 

pacify  the  hostiles  of  the  mainland  was  being  undone; 
and  what  complicated  matters  hopelessly  for  him  was 
the  fact  that  the  shareholders  of  his  own  company 
were  also  shareholders  in  the  rival  ventures.  Baranof 
wrote  to  Siberia  for  instructions,  urging  the  amalga- 
mation of  all  the  companies  in  one;  but  instructions 
were  so  long  in  coming  that  the  fur  trade  was  being 
utterly  bedevilled  and  the  passions  of  the  savages  in- 
flamed to  a  point  of  danger  for  every  white  man  on  the 
North  Pacific.  Affairs  were  at  this  pass  when  Kono- 
valof,  the  dashing  leader  of  the  plunderers,  planned  to 
capture  Baranof  himself,  and  seize  the  shipyard  at 
Sunday  Harbor,  on  Prince  William  Sound.  Baranof 
had  one  hundred  and  fifty  fighting  Russians  in  his 
brigades.  Should  he  wait  for  the  delayed  instructions 
from  Siberia  ?  While  he  hesitated,  some  of  the  ship- 
builders were  ambushed  in  the  woods,  robbed,  beaten, 
and  left  half  dead.  Baranof  could  not  afford  to  wait. 
He  had  no  more  legal  justification  for  his  act  than  the 
plunderers  had  for  theirs;  but  it  was  a  case  where  a 
man  must  step  outside  law,  or  be  exterminated.  Rally- 
ing his  men  round  him  and  taking  no  one  into  his  con- 
fidence, the  doughty  little  Russian  sent  a  formal 
messenger  to  Konovalof,  the  bandit,  at  his  redoubt  on 
Cook's  Inlet,  pompously  summoning  him  in  the  name 
of  the  governor  of  Siberia  to  appear  and  answer  for  his 
misdeeds.  To  the  brigand,  the  summons  was  a  bolt 
out  of  the  blue.  How  was  he  to  know  not  a  word  had 
come  from  the  governor  of  Siberia,  and  the  summons 


328         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

was  sheer  bluff?  He  was  so  terrorized  at  the  long 
hand  of  power  reaching  across  the  Pacific  to  clutch 
him  back  to  perhaps  branding  or  penal  service  in 
Siberia,  that  he  did  not  even  ask  to  see  BaranoPs 
documents.  Coming  post-haste,  he  offered  explana- 
tions, excuses,  frightened  pleadings.  Baranof  would 
have  none  of  him.  He  clapped  the  culprit  and  asso- 
ciates in  irons,  put  them  on  Ismyloff's  vessel,  and  de- 
spatched them  for  trial  to  Siberia.  That  he  also  seized 
the  furs  of  his  rivals  for  safe  keeping,  was  a  mere 
detail.  The  prisoners  were,  of  course,  discharged; 
for  Baranof's  conduct  could  no  more  bear  scrutiny  than 
their  own ;  but  it  was  one  way  to  get  rid  of  rivals ;  and 
the  fur  companies  at  war  in  the  Canadian  northwest 
practised  the  same  method  twenty  years  later. 

The  effect  of  the  bandit  outrages  on  the  hostile 
Indians  of  the  mainland  was  quickly  evident.  Bara- 
nof realized  that  if  he  was  to  hold  the  Pacific  coast 
for  his  company,  he  must  push  his  hunting  brigades 
east  and  south  toward  New  Spain.  A  convict  colony, 
that  was  to  be  the  nucleus  of  a  second  St.  Petersburg, 
was  planned  to  be  built  under  the  very  shadow  of 
Mount  St.  Elias.  Shields,  the  Englishman  employed 
by  Russia,  after  bringing  back  two  thousand  sea-ottei 
from  Bering  Bay  in  1793,  had  pushed  on  down  south- 
eastward to  Norfolk  Sound  or  the  modern  Sitka,  where 
he  loaded  a  second  cargo  of  two  thousand  sea-otter. 
A  dozen  foreign  traders  had  already  coasted  Alaskan 
shores,  and  southward  of  Norfolk  Sound  was  a  flotilla 


BARANOF,  THE    LITTLE    CZAR     329 

of  American  fur  traders,  yearly  encroaching  closer 
and  closer  on  the  Russian  field.  All  fear  of  rivalry 
among  the  Russians  had  been  removed  by  the  union 
of  the  different  companies  in  1799.  Baranof  pulled 
his  forces  together  for  the  master  stroke  that  was  to 
establish  Russian  dominion  on  the  Pacific.  This  was 
the  removal  of  the  capital  of  Russian  America  farther 
south. 

On  the  second  week  of  April,  1799,  with  two  vessels, 
twenty-two  Russians,  and  three  hundred  and  fifty 
canoes  of  Aleut  fur  hunters,  Baranof  sailed  from 
Prince  William  Sound  for  the  southeast.  Pause  was 
made  early  in  May  opposite  Kyak  —  Bering's  old 
landfall  —  to  hunt  sea-otter.  The  sloops  hung  on 
the  offing,  the  hunting  brigades,  led  by  Baranof  in  one 
of  the  big  skin  canoes,  paddling  for  the  surf  wash  and 
kelp  fields  of  the  boisterous,  rocky  coast,  which  sea- 
otter  frequent  in  rough  weather.  Dangers  of  the  hunt 
never  deterred  Baranof.  The  wilder  the  turmoil  of 
spray  and  billows,  the  more  sea-otter  would  be  driven 
to  refuge  on  the  kelp  fields.  Cross  tides  like  a  whirl- 
pool ran  on  this  coast  when  whipped  by  the  winds. 
Not  a  sound  from  the  sea-otter  hunters !  Silently, 
like  sea-birds  glorying  in  the  tempest,  the  canoes 
bounded  from  crest  to  crest  of  the  rolling  seas,  always 
taking  care  not  to  be  caught  broadsides  by  the  smash- 
ing combers,  or  swamped  between  waves  in  the 
churning  seas.  How  it  happened  is  not  known,  but 
somehow  between  wind  and  tide-rip,  thirty  of  the  canoes 


330         VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

that  rode  over  a  billow  and  swept  down  to  the  trough 
never  came  up.  A  flaw  of  wind  had  caught  the  moun- 
tain billows;  the  sixty  hunters  went  under.  From 
where  he  was,  Baranof  saw  the  disaster,  saw  the  terror 
of  the  other  two  hundred  men,  saw  the  rising  storm, 
and  at  a  glance  measured  that  it  was  farther  back  to 
the  sloops  than  on  towards  the  dangerous  shore.  The 
sea-otter  hunt  was  forgotten  in  the  impending  catas- 
trophe to  the  entire  brigade.  Signal  and  shout  con- 
fused in  the  thunder  of  the  surf  ordered  the  men  to 
paddle  for  their  lives  inshore.  Night  was  coming  on. 
The  distance  was  longer  than  Baranof  had  thought, 
and  it  was  dark  before  the  brigades  landed,  and  the 
men  flung  themselves  down,  totally  exhausted,  to  sleep 
on  the  drenched  sands. 

Barely  were  the  hunters  asleep  when  the  shout  of 
Kolosh  Indians  from  the  forests  behind  told  of  am- 
bush. The  mainland  hostiles  resenting  this  invasion 
of  their  hunting-fields,  had  watched  the  storm  drive 
the  canoes  to  land.  On  one  side  was  the  tempest,  on 
the  other  the  forest  thronged  with  warriors.  The 
Aleuts  lost  their  heads  and  dashed  for  hiding  in  the 
woods,  only  to  find  certain  death.  Baranof  and  the 
Russians  with  him  fired  off  their  muskets  till  all  powder 
was  used.  Then  they  shouted  in  the  Aleut  dialect 
for  the  hunters  to  embark.  The  sea  was  the  lesser 
danger.  By  morning  the  brigades  had  joined  the 
sloops  on  the  offing.  Thirteen  more  canoes  had  been 
lost  in  the  ambush. 


BARANOF,  THE    LITTLE    CZAR     331 

Such  was  the  inauspicious  introduction  for  Baranof 
to  the  founding  of  the  new  Russian  fort  at  Sitka  or 
Norfolk  Sound.  It  was  the  end  of  May  before  the 
brigades  glided  into  the  sheltered,  shadowy  harbor, 
where  Chirikoff's  men  had  been  lost  fifty  years  before. 
A  furious  storm  of  snow  and  sleet  raged  over  the  har- 
bor. When  the  storm  cleared,  impenetrable  forests 
were  seen  to  the  water-line,  and  great  trunks  of  trees 
swirled  out  to  sea.  On  the  ocean  side  to  the  west, 
Mount  Edgecumbe  towered  up  a  dome  of  snow.  East- 
ward were  the  bare  heights  of  Verstovoi;  and  count- 
less tiny  islets  gilded  by  the  sun  dotted  the  harbor. 
Baranof  would  have  selected  the  site  of  the  present 
Sitka,  high,  rocky  and  secure  from  attack,  but  the  old 
Sitkan  chief  refused  to  sell  it,  bartering  for  glass  beads 
and  trinkets  a  site  some  miles  north  of  the  present  town. 

Half  the  men  were  set  to  hunting  and  fishing,  half 
to  chopping  logs  for  the  new  fort  built  in  the  usual 
fashion,  with  high  palisades,  a  main  barracks  a  hun- 
dred feet  long  in  the  centre,  three  stories  high,  with 
trap-doors  connecting  each  story,  cabins  and  hutches 
all  round  the  inside  of  the  palisades.  Lanterns  hung 
at  the  masthead  of  the  sloops  to  recall  the  brigades  each 
night;  for  Captain  Cleveland,  a  Boston  trader  anchored 
in  the  harbor,  forewarned  Baranof  of  the  Indians'  treach- 
erous character,  more  dangerous  now  when  demoral- 
ized by  the  rivalry  of  white  traders,  and  in  possession 
of  the  civilized  man's  weapons.  Free  distribution  of 
liquor  by  unscrupulous  sea-captains  did  not  mend 


332         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

matters.  Cleveland  reported  that  the  savages  had  so 
often  threatened  to  attack  his  ship  that  he  no  longer 
permitted  them  on  board;  concealing  the  small  number 
of  his  crew  by  screens  of  hides  round  the  decks,  trading 
only  at  a  wicket  with  cannon  primed  and  muskets 
bristling  through  the  hides  above  the  taffrail.  He 
warned  Baranof's  hunters  not  to  be  led  off  inland  bear 
hunting,  for  the  bear  hunt  might  be  a  Sitkan  Indian 
in  decoy  to  trap  the  hunters  into  an  ambush.  Such 
a  decoy  had  almost  trapped  Cleveland's  crew,  when 
other  Indians  were  noticed  in  ambush.  The  new  fort 
was  christened  Archangel. 

All  went  well  as  long  as  Baranof  was  on  the  ground. 
Sea-otter  were  obtained  for  worthless  trinkets.  Sen- 
tries paraded  the  gateway;  so  Baranof  sailed  back 
to  Kadiak.  The  Kolosh  or  Sitkan  tribes  had  only 
bided  their  time.  That  sleepy  summer  day  of  June, 
1802,  when  the  slouchy  Siberian  convicts  were  off 
guard  and  Baranof  two  thousand  miles  away,  the 
Indians  fell  on  the  fort  and  at  one  fell  swoop  wiped  it 
out.1  Up  at  Kadiak  honors  were  showering  on  the 
little  governor.  Two  decorations  of  nobility  he  had 
been  given  by  1804;  but  his  grief  over  the  loss  of  Sitka 
was  inconsolable.  "I  will  either  die  or  restore  the 
fort!"  he  vowed,  and  with  the  help  of  a  Russian  man- 
of-war  sent  round  the  world,  he  sailed  that  summer 
into  Sitka  Sound.  The  Indians  scuttled  their  barri- 
cade erected  on  the  site  of  the  present  Sitka.  Here 

i  See  Chapter  XI. 


BARANOF,  THE    LITTLE    CZAR    333 

the  fort  was  rebuilt  and  renamed  New  Archangel  —  a 
fort  worthy  in  its  palmy  days  of  BaranoPs  most  daring 
ambitions.  Sixty  Russian  officers  and  eight  hundred 
white  families  lived  within  the  walls,  with  a  retinue  of 
two  or  three  thousand  Indian  otter  hunters  cabined 
along  the  beach.  There  was  a  shipyard.  There  was 
a  foundry  for  the  manufacture  of  the  great  brass  bells 
sold  for  chapels  in  New  Spain.  There  were  arch- 
bishops, priests,  deacons,  schools.  At  the  hot  springs 
twenty  miles  away,  hospitals  and  baths  were  built. 
A  library  and  gallery  of  famous  paintings  were  added 
to  the  fort,  though  Baranof  complained  it  would  have 
been  wiser  to  have  physicians  for  his  men.  For  the 
rest  of  BaranoPs  rule,  Sitka  became  the  great  rendez- 
vous of  vessels  trading  on  the  Pacific.  Here  Baranof 
held  sway  like  a  potentate,  serving  regal  feasts  to  all 
visitors  with  the  pomp  of  a  little  court,  and  the  bar- 
barity of  a  wassailing  mediaeval  lord. 

But  all  this  was  not  so  much  fireworks  for  display. 
Baranof  had  his  motive.  To  the  sea-captains  who 
feasted  with  him  and  drank  themselves  torpid  under 
his  table,  he  proposed  a  plan  —  he  would  supply  the 
Aleut  hunters  for  them  to  hunt  on  shares  as  far  south 
as  southern  California.  Always,  too,  he  was  an  eager 
buyer  of  their  goods,  giving  them  in  exchange  seal- 
skins from  the  Seal  Islands.  Boston  vessels  were  the 
first  to  enter  partnership  with  Baranof.  Later  came 
Astor's  captains  from  New  York,  taking  sealskins  in 
trade  for  goods  supplied  to  the  Russians. 


334         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

How  did  Baranof,  surrounded  by  hostile  Indians, 
with  no  servants  but  Siberian  convicts,  hold  his  own 
single-handed  in  American  wilds  ?  Simply  by  the 
power  of  his  fitness,  by  vigilance  that  never  relaxed, 
by  despotism  that  was  by  turns  savage  and  gentle,  but 
always  paternal,  by  the  fact  that  his  brain  and  his 
brawn  were  always  more  than  a  match  for  the  brain 
and  brawn  of  all  the  men  under  him.  To  be  sure, 
the  liberal  measure  of  seventy-nine  lashes  was  laid 
on  the  back  of  any  subordinate  showing  signs  of 
mutiny,  but  that  did  not  prevent  many  such  at- 
tempts. 

The  most  serious  was  in  1809.  From  the  time  that 
Benyowsky,  the  Polish  adventurer,  had  sacked  the 
garrison  of  Kamchatka,  Siberian  convicts  serving  in 
America  dreamed  of  similar  exploits.  Peasants  and 
officers,  a  score  in  number,  all  convicts  from  Siberia, 
had  plotted  to  rise  in  New  Archangel  or  Sitka,  assas- 
sinate the  governor,  seize  ships  and  provisions,  and 
sailing  to  some  of  the  South  Sea  Islands,  set  up  an 
independent  government.  The  signal  was  to  be  given 
when  Naplavkof,  an  officer  who  was  master  plotter, 
happened  to  be  on  duty.  On  such  good  terms  was 
the  despot,  Baranof,  with  his  men,  that  the  plot  was 
betrayed  to  him  from  half  a  dozen  sources.  It  did 
not  trouble  Baranof.  He  sent  the  betrayers  a  keg  of 
brandy,  bade  one  of  them  give  a  signal  by  breaking 
out  in  drunken  song,  and  at  the  sound  himself  burst 
into  the  roomful  of  conspirators,  sword  in  hand,  fol- 


BARANOF,  THE   LITTLE   CZAR    335 

lowed  by  half  a  hundred  armed  soldiers.  The  plotters 
were  handcuffed  and  sent  back  to  Siberia. 

There  was  something  inexcusably  cruel  in  the  ter- 
mination of  Baranof's  services  with  the  fur  company. 
He  was  now  over  seventy  years  of  age.  He  was  tor- 
tured by  rheumatism,  from  the  long  years  of  exposure 
in  a  damp  climate.  Because  he  was  not  of  noble  birth, 
though  he  had  received  title  of  nobility,  he  was  sub- 
ject to  insults  at  the  hands  of  any  petty  martinet  who 
came  out  as  officer  on  the  Russian  vessels.  Against 
these  Baranof  usually  held  his  own  at  Sitka,  but  they 
carried  back  to  St.  Petersburg  slanderous  charges 
against  his  honesty.  Twice  he  had  asked  to  be  al- 
lowed to  resign.  Twice  successors  had  been  sent 
from  Russia;  but  one  died  on  the  way,  and  the  other 
was  shipwrecked.  It  was  easy  for  malignant  tongues 
to  rouse  suspicion  that  Baranof's  desire  to  resign 
sprang  from  interested  motives,  perhaps  from  a  wish 
to  conceal  his  own  peculations.  Though  Baranof  had 
annually  handled  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  furs  for 
the  Russian  Company,  at  a  distance  from  oversight 
that  might  have  defied  detection  in  wrong-doing,  it 
was  afterwards  proved  that  he  had  not  misused  or 
misappropriated  one  dime's  worth  of  property;  but 
who  was  to  believe  his  honesty  in  the  face  of  false 
charges  ? 

In  the  fall  of  1817  Lieutenant  Hagemeister  arrived 
at  Sitka  to  audit  the  books  of  the  company.  Conceal- 
ing from  Baranof  the  fact  that  he  was  to  be  deposed, 


336         VIKINGS   OF   THE   PACIFIC 

Hagemeister  spent  a  year  investigating  the  records. 
Not  a  discrepancy  was  discovered.  Baranof,  with  the 
opportunity  to  have  made  millions,  was  a  poor  man. 
Without  explanation,  Hagemeister  then  announced 
the  fact  —  Baranof  was  to  be  retired.  Between  volun- 
tarily retiring  and  being  retired  was  all  the  difference 
between  honor  and  insult.  The  news  was  a  blow  that 
crushed  Baranof  almost  to  senility.  He  was  found 
doddering  and  constantly  in  tears.  Again  and  again 
he  bade  good-by  to  his  old  comrades,  comrades  of 
revel  with  noble  blood  in  their  veins,  comrades  of  the 
hunt,  pure-blooded  Indians,  who  loved  him  as  a 
brother,  comrades  of  his  idleness,  Indian  children 
with  whom  he  had  frolicked  —  but  he  could  not  bear 
to  tear  himself  from  the  land  that  was  the  child  of  his 
lifelong  efforts.  The  blow  had  fallen  when  he  was 
least  able  to  bear  it.  His  nerve  was  gone.  Of  all  the 
Russian  wreckages  in  this  cruel  new  land,  surely  this 
wreck  was  the  most  pitiable  —  the  maker  deposed  by 
the  thing  he  had  made,  cast  out  by  his  child,  driven 
to  seek  some  hidden  place  where  he  might  die  out  of 
sight.  An  old  sea-captain  offered  him  passage  round 
the  world  to  Russia,  where  his  knowledge  might  still 
be  of  service.  Service  ?  That  was  the  word !  The 
old  war-horse  pricked  up  his  ears !  Baranof  sailed  in 
the  fall  of  1818.  By  spring  the  ship  homeward-bound 
stopped  at  Batavia.  There  was  some  delay.  Delay 
was  not  good  for  Baranof.  He  was  ill,  deadly  ill,  of 
that  most  deadly  of  all  ailments,  heartbreak,  conscious- 


BARANOF,  THE    LITTLE    CZAR     337 

ness  that  he  was  of  no  more  use,  what  the  Indians  call 
"the  long  sickness  of  too  much  thinking."  When  the 
vessel  put  out  to  sea  again,  Baranof,  too,  put  to  sea, 
but  it  was  to  the  boundless  sea  of  eternity.  He  died 
on  April  1 6,  1819,  and  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  arms  of 
the  great  ocean  that  had  cradled  his  hopes  from  the 
time  he  left  Siberia. 

To  pass  judgment  on  Baranof's  life  would  be  a 
piece  of  futility.  His  life,  like  the  lives  of  all  those 
Pacific  coast  adventurers,  stands  or  falls  by  what  it 
was,  not  what  it  meant  to  be;  by  what  it  did,  not  what 
it  left  undone;  and  what  Baranof  left  was  an  empire 
half  the  size  of  Russia.  That  his  country  afterward 
lost  that  empire  was  no  fault  of  his.  Like  all  those 
Vikings  of  the  North  Pacific,  he  was  essentially  a  man 
who  did  things,  not  a  theorizer  on  how  things  ought  to 
be  done,  not  a  slug  battening  on  the  things  other  men 
have  done. 

They  were  not  anaemic,  these  old  "sea  voyagers"  of 
the  Pacific,  daring  death  or  devil,  with  the  red  blood 
of  courage  in  their  veins,  and  the  red  blood  of  a  lawless 
manhood,  too.  They  were  not  men  of  milk  and  water 
type,  with  little  good  and  less  bad.  Neither  their 
virtues  nor  their  vices  were  lukewarm;  but  they  did 
things,  these  men;  added  to  the  sum  total  of  human 
effort,  human  knowledge,  human  progress.  Sordid 
their  motives  may  have  been,  sordid  as  the  blacksmith's 
when  he  smashes  his  sledge  on  the  anvil;  but  from  the 
anvil  of  their  hardships,  from  the  clash  of  the  pri- 


VIKINGS   OF   THE    PACIFIC 

mordial  warfare  between  the  Spirit  of  the  Elements  and 
the  Spirit  of  Man,  struck  out  some  sparks  of  the  Divine. 
There  was  the  courage  as  dauntless  in  the  teeth  of  the 
gale  as  in  the  face  of  death.  There  was  the  yearning 
to  know  More,  to  seek  it,  to  follow  it  over  earth's  ends, 
though  the  quest  led  to  the  abyss  of  a  watery  grave. 
What  did  they  want,  these  fool  fellows,  following  the 
rushlight  of  their  own  desires  ?  That  is  just  it.  They 
didn't  know  what  they  sought,  but  they  knew  there 
was  something  just  beyond  to  be  sought,  something 
new  to  be  known;  and  because  Man  is  Man,  they  set 
out  on  the  quest  of  the  unknown,  chancing  life  and 
death  for  the  sake  of  a  little  gain  to  human  progress. 
It  is  the  spirit  of  the  heroic  ages,  and  to  that  era  belongs 
the  history  of  the  Vikings  on  the  North  Pacific. 


INDEX 


Adakh  Island,  Chirikoff  at,  51. 

Admiralty  Inlet,  explored,  270-271. 

Adventure,  first  American  ship  built 
on  Pacific,  233,  234,  238,  325. 

Alaska,  Bering's  expedition  on  coast 
of,  26  ff.  ;  ChirikofPs  arrival  at, 
50-51  ;  Benyowsky's  visit  to,  125; 
Cook  explores  coast  of,  189-194  ; 
Gray's  trip  to,  238 ;  Vancouver's 
survey  of  southern  coast  of,  286- 
290  ;  Baranof's  career  in,  318-337. 
See  Sitka. 

Aleutian  Islands,  Bering's  voyage  of 
discovery  among,  26-41  ;  sea-otter's 
habitat  on,  42,  53,  56,  63,  66-67, 
69-70,  82-83  ;  fur  hunters  of  the, 
67-78,  81-84,  321-323,  328-330- 

Aleut  Indians,  as  otter-hunters,  69-78  ; 
harsh  treatment  of,  by  Russians,  79, 
81-88  ;  Russian  hunters  massacred 
by,  91—95,  100-104  !  punishment  of, 
105  ;  in  Sitka  massacre,  307-310, 
332  ;  accompany  Baranof  on  voyage 
of  vengeance,  311-314  ;  with  Bara- 
nof in  Prince  William  Sound,  322  ff. 

Alexander  Archipelago,  Chirikoff  in 
the,  46-52. 

Alexis,  Aleut  Indian  boy  hostage,  98, 
99,  102. 

Anderson,  Dr.,  with  Cook,  193. 

Anian,  Straits  of,  9,  279  n. 

Anton,  Juan  de,  captain  of  Glory  of 
the  South  Seas,  158  n. 


Apraxin,  Count,  8  n. 

Archangel  Michael,  modern  Sitka  once 
named,  306  ;  founding  of,  by  Bara- 
nof, 306,  331-332;  massacre  at,  307- 

3IQ,  332. 

Arguello,  Don  Joseph,  241. 

Aricara,  Drake  at,  155. 

Astor,  John  Jacob,  65,  212,  303,  318, 
322,  333. 

Athabasca  Lake,  attempt  to  identify, 
with  Northwest  Passage,  174,  175. 

Atka,  otter  grounds  at,  69. 

Atto,  Hawaiian  boy,  229,  233,  240. 

Attoo,  village  in,  destroyed  by  Russian 
fur  hunters,  83. 

Auteroche,  Chappe  d',  cited,  295. 

Avacha  Bay,  Bering  at,  17,  19,  23  ; 
survivors  of  Bering  expedition  re- 
turn to,  59-60 ;  vessels  of  Cook's 
expedition  at,  208. 

B 

Baker,  lieutenant  in  Vancouver's  ex- 
pedition, 266,  270. 

Baker,  Mount,  270. 

Balboa,  134,  144. 

Baltimore,  Benyowsky  visits,  127. 

Bancroft,  Hubert  Howe,  cited,  241, 
290,  295. 

Baranof,  Alexander,  governor  of  Rus- 
sian American  Fur  Company,  67, 
167  n.,  288,  301,  304,  306,  310; 
character  of,  316-317  ;  personal  ap- 
pearance of,  317;  early  career  of, 


339 


340 


INDEX 


317-318;  sails  to  America  (1790), 
318;  wrecked  on  Oonalaska,  319— 
320 ;  builds  boat  and  reaches  Ka- 
diak,  321  ;  defeats  hostile  Indians 
at  Nuchek  Island,  323-324  ;  estab- 
lishes fort  at  Sitka,  331  ;  loses  fort 
by  Sitka  massacre,  but  rebuilds  and 
founds  New  Archangel  (modern 
Sitka),  332-333 ;  in  old  age  de- 
posed from  governorship,  335-336 ; 
death  of,  337. 

Baranof  Castle,  Sitka,  301. 

Barber,  Captain,  at  Sitka,  310. 

Barclay,  English  sea-captain,  224,  227, 
254,  264,  272. 

Barnes,  sailor  with  Gray,  230. 

Barrell,  Joseph,  211,  215,  229,  241. 

Bassof,  otter  hunter,  82-83. 

Begg,  cited,  290  n. 

Behm,  Major,  196,  208. 

Behm  Canal,  286. 

Benyowsky,  Mauritius,  Polish  exile  to 
Kamchatka,  108-110;  career  of,  at 
Bolcheresk,  113-122;  escapes  to  sea 
on  pirate  cruise,  122  ;  meets  Ocho- 
tyn  at  Bering  Island,  123-124;  visits 
Alaska,  125  ;  adventures  of,  in 
Luzon,  Formosa,  and  China,  126- 
127;  holds  French  commission  in 
Madagascar,  137;  returns  to  F.u- 
rope,  goes  to  Baltimore,  and  is  sent 
on  filibustering  expedition  to  Mada- 
gascar, 127;  death  of,  127-128; 
authorities  for,  I28n. 

Berg,  cited,  II  n.,  22  n.,  129,  295. 

Bering,  Anna,  8n. 

Bering,  Jonas,  8  n. 

Bering,  Thomas,  22  n. 

Bering,  Unos,  22. 

Bering,  Vitus  Ivanovich,  birth  and 
early  history  of,  8 ;  commissioned 
by  Peter  the  Great  to  explore  waters 
between  Russia  and  America,  <S-io  ; 
first  expedition  of  (1725-1730),  10- 
12;  second  expedition  undertaken 


by,  12;  difficulties  of,  with  scien- 
tists about  "  Gamaland,"  13-15,  *9i 
22,  24 ;  arrival  ol  expedition  of,  at 
Okhotsk,  16;  start  of,  from  Avacha 
Bay,  Kamchatka  (1741),  17;  cruise 
of,  in  St.  Peter,  22-45  •  landfall  at 
Kyak  Island,  26-27,  47  n-  '•>  Mt.  St. 
F.lias  discovered  by,  26 ;  explora- 
tion of  coast  of  Alaskan  peninsula 
by,  28-36  ;  forced  to  winter  at  Com- 
mander Islands,  35-36 ;  death  of, 
54;  summary  of  work  of,  55-56, 
6 1 ;  conclusions  of,  rejected  by  scien- 
tists, 172-173;  mentioned  in  con- 
nection with  other  explorers,  183, 
i84n.,  239,  263,  264;  Cook  verities 
conclusions  of,  189-194. 

Bering  Bay,  288. 

Bering  Island,  37-45,  97,  123-124, 
300,  315. 

Betshevin,  Siberian  merchant,  84,  87. 

Bidarkas,  fur  hunters'  boats,  67. 

Billings,  Joseph,  254,  258,  259-261. 

Boit,  John,  230. 

Bolcheresk,  capital  of  Kamchatka,  113- 
114;  description  of,  1 14  ;  Benyow- 
sky's  career  at,  114-122. 

Boston,  interest  at,  in  Gray's  expedi- 
tions, 215-216,  229-230,  240-241. 

"  Bostons  "  (Bostonnais),  Indians  call 
all  Americans,  210. 

Bra/il,  Drake's  lost  sailors  in,  152. 

Bristol  Bay,  193. 

Broughton,  Lieutenant,  266,  271,  279, 
280,  281  ;  Voyagt  by,  cited,  295  n. 

Brown,  Samuel,  of  Boston,  21 1,  229. 

Brown,  Dr.  William,  I^edyard  travels 
with,  258-259. 

Bultinch,  Charles,  211,  212;  daughter 
of,  named  "  <  'olunibia,"  240. 

Bulliiu-h,  Dr.,  of  Boston,  211,  241. 

Burney,   I'oyages  by,  295  n. 

Burrard  Inlet,  273. 

Burroughs,  John,  cited,  72  n. 

Bute  Inlet,  274. 


INDEX 


California,  Drake's  visit  to,  160-165, 
169-171 ;  Vancouver's  visit  to,  281- 
282  ;  Russian  American  Fur  Com- 
pany in,  315. 

California,  vessel  for  exploration,  1 74. 

Callao,  Drake  sacks,  155-156. 

Campbell,  Dr.,  quoted,  172—173. 

Cannibals,  Cook's  stay  among,  187 ; 
on  Portland  Canal,  230. 

Cape  Adams,  280. 

Cape  Addington,  46. 

Cape  Disappointment,  224,  235,  267, 
269,  279,  280. 

Cape  Douglas,  191. 

Cape  Elizabeth,  191. 

Cape  Flattery,  185,  223,  224,  235,  270. 

Cape  Foulweather,  184. 

Cape  Gregory,  184. 

Cape  Horn,  Drake  discovers,  153; 
Gray  expedition  rounds,  216-217. 

Cape  Khitroff,  41. 

Cape  Lookout,  219. 

Cape  Meares,  224. 

Cape  Perpetua,  184. 

Cape  Prince  of  Wales,  193,  208. 

Captain  Harbor,  300 ;  Drusenin  at, 
89 ;  Ledyard's  arrival  at,  250. 

Carder,  Peter,  152  n. 

Cartier,  Jacques,  272. 

Caswell,  Joshua,  230. 

Catherine,  Empress,  7. 

Chaplin,  Peter,  n  n. 

Chatham,  Lieutenant  Broughton  com- 
mands, in  Vancouver  cruise,  266. 

Chesterfield  Inlet,  174-175. 

Chinook,  Indian  village,  281. 

Chirikoff,  Alexei,  Bering's  second  in 
command,  u,  13,  18,  19,  20,  60 ; 
cruise  of,  in  the  St.  Paul,  45-53. 

Christopher,  Captain,  175. 

Christopher,  Drake's  vessel,  147. 

Christy,  Silver  Map  of,  168. 

Chukchee  Indians,  5,  9,  193,  194,  318. 


Clayoquot,  Gray  at,  227,  232-234. 
Clerke,  Captain,   181,   203,   206,  207, 

208  ;   death  of,  209. 
Cleveland,    Captain,    Boston    trader, 

295»  331-332. 

Collectors  of  tribute,  Cossack,  5,  107, 
294-296,  299. 

Columbia,  vessel  commanded  by  Cap- 
tain Kendrick,  on  cruise  to  Pacific, 
212-213,  215  ;  Gray  in  command 
of,  228,  268-269. 

Columbia  River,  Meares  searches  for, 
224 ;  Vancouver  misses,  235,  267- 
268  ;  Heceta  quoted  regarding,  235- 
236;  Gray  discovers  and  names,  236- 
238,  241,  268,  269 ;  Broughton's 
trip  up,  280. 

Commander  Islands,  Bering  expedi- 
tion at,  37-45,  61 ;  sea-otter  found 
on,  67,  76. 

Cook,  Captain  James,  19,  64  n.,  78, 
127,  128  n.,  161,  168,  222,  226,  263, 
264,  265  ;  boyhood  and  youth  of, 
176-177;  seaman  on  Newcastle 
coaler,  177;  enters  Royal  Navy, 
178-180 ;  before  Quebec  with 
Wolfe,  1 80  ;  sent  by  Royal  Society 
on  voyage  to  South  Seas  (1768- 
1771),  180-181  ;  makes  voyage 
round  the  world,  181  ;  starts  on 
historic  voyage  of  discovery  and 
exploration,  181  ;  John  Ledyard's 
connection  with  expedition  of,  181- 
182,  247  ;  terms  of  secret  commis- 
sion of,  182-183;  Drake's  "New 
Albion"  sighted  by,  184 ;  misses 
Straits  of  Fuca,  184-185  ;  anchors 
at  Nootka,  1 86 ;  visits  Kyak  Island, 
189  ;  in  Prince  William  Sound,  190- 

191  ;    explores   Cook's   Inlet,    191- 

192  ;  sails  along  coast  of  Alaska  to 
Cape  Prince  of  Wales,  and  crosses 
Bering  Strait  to  Siberia,  193  ;   veri- 
fies Bering's  conclusions,  193-194  ; 
explores  Norton  Sound,  195  ;   stops 


34* 


INDEX 


at  Oonalaska,  195-196  ;  returns  to 
Sandwich  Islands  to  winter,  196- 
197  ;  friendly  reception  of,  by 
Hawaiian*,  197-199 ;  sailors  of, 
abuse  hospitality  of  natives,  199- 
200  ;  difficulties  of,  over  boat  stolen 
by  natives,  203  ;  brave  stand  taken 
by,  and  death  of,  203-205  ;  authori- 
ties for,  209  n. ;  account  of  voyage 
of,  leads  to  sending  out  of  Robert 
Gray,  211;  Gray's  work  and  its 
results  compared  with  those  of, 
239-240. 

Cook's  Inlet,  sea-otter  in,  66-67,  68, 
69,  79;  explored  by  Cook,  189- 
192 ;  Vancouver's  survey  of,  287- 
288  ;  Russian  fur  traders'  doings  in, 
326-327. 

Coolidge,  Davis,  214,  230. 

Copper  Island,  44,  97,  315. 

Coquimbo,  Drake  at,  154.         • 

Cortes,  133-134. 

Coxe,  William,  cited,  61,  82,  105,  295. 

Crowning  of  Drake  by  Indians,  164. 

D 

Dadalus,  Vancouver's  supply  ship,  266, 
282;  seized  by  Sandwich  Islanders 
and  two  officers  murdered,  284. 

Da  Gama,  Vasco,  134. 

Dall,  cited,  n  n.,  295. 

Dartmouth  College,  courses  for  mis- 
sionaries at,  244-245. 

Davidson,  Dr.  George,  x,  47  n.,  162  n., 
1 68,  290  n. 

Davidson,  George,  member  of  Gray's 
second  expedition,  230,  240,  241. 

Dawson,  cited,  290  n. 

Dementieff,  Abraham,  47-48. 

Derby,  John,  211,  229. 

Derby  Sound,  228. 

Deshneff,  explorer,  vii,  296. 

Deshon,  Captain,  253-254. 

Discovery,  Vancouver's  ship,  266;  on 


rocks  in  Straits  of  Fuca,  275;   Ha- 
waiian girls  on  board  of,  284-285. 

Discovery,  vessel  commanded  by  Cap- 
tain Clerke,  in  Cook's  voyage,  181. 

D'Isles,  the,  geographers,  19,  20,  52. 

Distress  Cove,  228. 

Dixon,  George,  78,  209,  227,  254,  2900. 

Dobbs,  patron  of  exploration,  1 74. 

Dobbs,  vessel  for  exploration,  1 74. 

Doughty,  Thomas,  147;  trial  and  exe- 
cution of,  148-149,  1 68. 

Douglas,  Captain,  223-226. 

Dragon,  Drake's  vessel,  140. 

Drake,  Francis,  family  and  boyhood 
of,  139;  with  Hawkins  in  West 
Indies,  139;  cruises  Spanish  Main 
(1570-1573),  140-141;  seizes  one 
million  pounds  in  silver  from  Spanish 
at  N  ombre  de  Dios,  141-142;  first 
views  Pacific  Ocean,  143-144;  at- 
tacks gold  train  at  Venta  Cruz, 
144-145;  returns  to  England,  146; 
Queen  Elizabeth  and,  146;  starts 
on  historic  cruise  (1577),  147; 
Doughty's  trial  and  execution,  148- 
149,  1 68;  enters  Pacific  through 
Straits  of  Magellan,  150;  driven 
south  by  storm,  151-153;  discovers 
Cape  Horn,  153;  piratical  voyage 
of,  up  South  American  coast,  153- 
155;  captures  Glory  of  tfie  South 
Seas,  158;  plans  to  return  home  by 
Northeast  Passage,  158-159;  land- 
fall north  of  California,  159-161, 
168;  gives  up  idea  of  Northeast 
Passage,  161;  visits  California,  161- 
162,  169;  welcomed  by  Indians, 
162-163,  169-170;  crowning  of, 
164;  calls  region  "New  Albion," 
164;  returns  to  England  around 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  (1580),  165; 
subsequent  career  of,  166;  death 
and  burial  of,  166-167,  171;  au- 
thorities for,  167  n. 

Drake,  John,  141,  142,  157. 


INDEX 


343 


Drake's  Bay,  162,  281. 

Drusenin,  Alexei,  otter  hunter,  81,  84; 
winters  at  Oonalaska,  88-91;  mur- 
dered by  natives,  91-92. 


E 

East  Cape,  195,  208-209. 

Elizabeth,  Drake's   vessel,  147,  148 ; 

returns  to  England,  152. 
Elizabeth,  Queen,  and  Drake,  146. 
Elliott,  cited,  72  n.,  295. 
Ellis,  explorer,  174-175. 
Equator,  rites  on  crossing,  182,  216. 
Eskimo    Indians,    Russian    explorers 

hear  about,  6.     See  Aleut  and  Ko- 

losh  Indians. 


Fages,  Don  Pedro,  cited,  241. 

Fairweather  Mountains,  189. 

Fletcher,  Francis,  Drake's  chaplain, 
149,  154  n.,  167 ;  chronicle  of, 
quoted,  161,  165,  167  n.-i7l  n. 

Foggy  Island  (Ukamok),  29,  192. 

Folger,  sailor  with  Gray,  230. 

Formosa,  Benyowsky  in,  127. 

Fort  Defence,  233,  325. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  Benyowsky's 
meeting  with,  I28n. 

Fraser  River,  Vancouver  misses  dis- 
covering, 272-273. 

Friendly  Cove,  276,  278. 

Frobisher,  Martin,  159. 

Fuca,  Juan  de,  173,  174,  184,  264, 
272;  account  of  legend  of,  con- 
cerning Northeast  Passage,  275  n. 

Fuca  Straits.     See  Straits  of  Fuca. 


Galiano,  Don,  272-273. 
Gama,  John  de,  6  n. 
Gamaland,  mythical   continent,  6,  9, 
168,  173  ;  Bering's  conclusion  con- 


cerning non-existence  of,  12,  18  ; 
on  D'Isles'  map,  19 ;  Bering's 
second  voyage  in  search  of,  22- 
23 ;  search  for,  relinquished,  24- 
25  ;  Cook  demolishes  myth  of,  181. 

Garret,  John,  141. 

Glory  of  the  South  Seas,  Spanish  gal- 
leon, 155,  156,  157 ;  captured  by 
Drake,  158. 

Glottoff,  Stephen,  88,  96;  Korovin 
rescued  by,  104. 

Gmelin,  scientist,  14  n.,  295  n. 

Golden  Hind,  Drake  renames  the 
Pelican  the,  150 ;  cruise  on  the 
Pacific  in,  151-165;  end  of,  166. 

Gore,  Cook's  lieutenant,  190. 

Gorelin,  Russian  sailor,  87,  gin. 

Gray,  Robert,  character  of,  213;  sent 
by  Boston  merchants  on  fur-trad- 
ing voyage  to  the  Pacific  coast, 
213-214;  departure  of,  from  Bos- 
ton (October,  1787),  215-216; 
rounds  Cape  Horn  and  reaches 
Drake's  "New  Albion,"  216-218; 
adventures  of,  in  Tillamook  Bay, 
219-222;  sails  to  Nootka,  222- 
223  ;  meets  Captains  Meares  and 
Douglas,  223-225 ;  in  spring  ex- 
plores Straits  of  Fuca,  227,  235; 
takes  cargo  of  furs  to  China  and 
returns  to  Boston  (August,  1790), 
228-229;  leaves  Boston  on  second 
voyage  (September,  1790),  230; 
winters  at  Clayoquot  (1791-1792), 
232-234 ;  builds  sloop  Adventure, 
233,  234,  325 ;  meets  Vancouver 
expedition,  235,  268-270;  dis- 
covers and  names  Columbia  River 
(May,  1792),  236-238,  241,  268, 
269 ;  goes  to  China  and  returns 
to  Boston  (July,  1793),  238; 
death  of,  238 ;  place  of,  among 
discoverers,  238-240 ;  authorities 
for,  240  n. ;  later  mention  of, 
264,  272,  286,  322  ;  Lieutenant 


344 


INDEX 


Broughton's  view   of   explorations 

of,  280. 

Gray's  Harbor,  236,  241. 
Greenhow,  cited,  241,  290,  295. 
Guatalco,  Drake  stops  at,  159. 
Gulf  of  Georgia,  271. 
Gvozdef,  discoverer,  12  n. 


II 

Hagemeister,  Lieutenant,  335-336. 

Hall,  Sir  James,  and  Ledyard,  256. 

Hancock,  Clayoquot  renamed,  227. 

Hancock,  Governor,  229. 

Harriman  Expedition,  the,  72  n. 

Haskins,  member  of  Gray's  second  ex- 
pedition, 230. 

Haswell,  Robert,  in  Gray's  expedi- 
tions, 214,  216,  220-222,  228,  230, 
234,  240,  241. 

Hatch,  Captain  Crowell,  211. 

Hawkins,  Sir  John,  135-139,  166. 

Hearne,  Samuel,  174,  175,  i8l. 

Heceta,  Captain  Bruno,  219,  241  ; 
quoted  regarding  Columbia  River, 
235-236. 

Henriquez,  Don  Martin,  136. 

Hoffman,  German  exile,  io8-Ui. 

Hood  Canal,  explored,  270-271. 

Howe,  Richard,  accountant  in  Gray's 
expedition,  214. 

Howe's  Sound,  274. 

I 

Icy  Cape,  Cook  names,  195. 

Inaluok  Island,  90. 

Indians,  Californian,  and  Drake,  162- 

165,  169-171. 

Ingraham,  Joseph,  214,  230,  240,  322. 
Isle,  Louis  la  Croyere  de  1',  19,  20, 

209  ;    death  of,  52. 
Isle  of  Pinos,  141. 
Ismyloff,  Russian  trader-spy,  118,  119, 

122,  123,   124,    127,  I28n. ;    Cook 


meets,  196 ;  treacherous  letters  of, 
208;  Ledyard's  encounters  with, 
251,  253,  258,  260-261  ;  in  service 
of  Russian  American  Fur  Company, 
under  Baranof,  322,  323. 

J 

Japan,  charted  by  Martin  Spanberg, 
18 ;  laws  to  protect  the  sea-otter 
moved  by,  67  ;  Benyowsky's  adven- 
tures in,  126-127. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  Ledyard  and,  255, 
261-262. 

Jervis  Canal,  274. 

Johnstone,  with  Vancouver,  266,  271, 

273.  275- 
Jokai,  Maurus,  Benyowsky's  life  told 

by,  127. 

Jones,  Paul,  and  Ledyard,  255. 
Juan    Fernandez,    Columbia   repaired 

at,  217. 

K 

Kadiak  Indians  in  California,  315. 

Kadiak  Island,  otter-hunting  head- 
quarters, 69,  79;  Ochotyn  at,  124; 
Benyowsky  visits,  125  ;  Baranof  at, 
321-329. 

Kakooa,  Sandwich  Islands,  203,  206. 

Kalekhta,  Aleutian  village,  90,  94. 

Kamchatka,  Uering  sails  from,  II; 
Benyowsky  in,  113—122. 

Karakakooa  Bay,  Cook  at,  197-205. 

Kendrick,  Captain  John,  213,  214,  216, 
217,  225,  226,  228,  229,  264,  272, 
322 ;  adventures  of,  on  Queen 
Charlotte  Island,  230-232 ;  death 
of,  I 

Kendrick,  Solomon,  murdered,  232. 

Khitroff,  in  Bering  expedition,  26-27, 

3°-3 1-  36. 
King,  Captain,  with  Cook,  128  n.,  186, 

192,  198,  200,  203,  206. 
Koah,  Hawaiian  priest,  198,  206,  207. 


INDEX 


345 


Kohl,  J.  G.,  cited,  168,  295. 

Kolosh  Indians,  massacre  by,  307-310, 

332  ;  Baranof's  encounter  with,  330. 
Konovalof,  bandit,  327-328. 
Korelin,  companion  of  Drusenin,  90- 

91,  92,  94. 
Korovin,  Ivan,  88,  96  ;   experiences  of, 

at  Oonalaska,  97-105. 
Koshigin  Bay,  319. 

Kotches,  Russian  boats,  295-296,  297. 
Kotzebue,  dramatist,  takes  Benyowsky 

for  a  subject,  127. 

Kotzebue,  Otto  von,  works  by,  295. 
Kowrowa,  Sandwich  Islands,  197,  203. 
Kracheninnikof,  cited,  295. 
Krusenstern,  Lieutenant,  295,  311. 
Kyacks,  Eskimo  boats,  68. 
Kyak  Island,  Bering's  landfall,  26-27, 

47  n.  ;    Cook  at,  189  ;   Baranof  at, 

329-330. 


Lady  Washington,  the,  Gray  sails  on, 
to  Pacific  coast,  213-219;  Captain 
Kendrick  in  command  of,  228  ;  last 
mention  of,  238. 

Langsdorff,  cited,  295. 

La  Salle,  vii,  60. 

Lauridsen,  Peter,  authority  on  Bering, 
12  n.,  61  n. 

La  Verendrye,  vii,  7,  19,  60,  177. 

Ledyard,  Dr.,  243  n. 

Ledyard,  John,  corporal  of  marines 
with  Cook,  181-182,  195-196,  200, 
203,  205,  247-252 ;  authority  for 
Cook's  voyage,  209  n. ;  early  career 
of,  242-244  ;  authorities  for  life 
of,  243  n.,  262  n.  ;  student  at  Dart- 
mouth College,  245  ;  works  his  way 
to  England,  245-246 ;  experiences 
of,  in  London,  246-247  ;  on  return 
of  Cook  expedition  sent  to  fight 
against  United  States,  252  ;  returns 
to  Groton  and  deserts  fimtn  H.itish 
navy,  252-253 ;  borrows  money, 


goes  to  Paris,  and  meets  Paul  Jones 
and  Thomas  Jefferson,  254-255  ;  in 
England,  256;  walks  fourteen  hun- 
dred miles  from  Stockholm  around 
Baltic  Sea  to  St.  Petersburg,  257- 

258  ;    accompanies  Dr.  Brown  three 
thousand  miles   into  Siberia,  258- 

259  ;  joins  Joseph  Billings'  expedi- 
tion and  reaches  Lena  River,  260 ; 
arrested  as  a   French   spy,  carried 
back  to  St.  Petersburg,  and  expelled 
from  the  country,  260-261  ;   reaches 
London    and    is    sent    to    discover 
source   of  Nile,   261—262 ;    dies  at 
Cairo,  262. 

Lewis  and  Clark  expedition,  60-61  ; 

John  Ledyard's  influence  on,  242, 

255,  262. 

Lincoln,  Genera^  of  Boston,  229. 
Lisiansky,  Captain,  295,  311,  313. 
Lok,  Michael,  275  n. 
Lopez,  Marcus,  216,  220;  murder  of, 

by  Indians,  221. 
Lynn   Canal,  Vancouver's   survey   of, 

288. 

M 

Macao,  Benyowsky  in,  127,  128. 
Macfie,  Vancouver  Island  by,  295  n. 
Mackenzie,  Alexander,  219. 
Madagascar,  Benyowsky's  adventures 

and  death  in,  127. 
Magellan,  explorer,  134-135. 
Magellan,  Hyacinth  de,  128  n. 
Makushin  Volcano,  86,  96-97,  105  n. 
Maquinna,  Indian  chief,  276,  277-278. 
Marquette,  Pere,  vii,  7. 
Martin,  Hudson"1*  Bay  Territories  by, 

295  n. 

Martinez,  Don  Joseph,  227. 
Marygold,  Drake's  vessel,   147,  148 ; 

loss  of,  151-152. 
Massacre,  of  Russians  at  Oonalaska 

and  Oomnak,  100-105  ;   the  Sitka, 

307-310,  332. 


INDEX 


Mayne,  cited,  290  n. 

Meares,  English  sea-captain,  223-226, 

227,  235,  254,  264,  267,  272,  273, 

322. 

Meares1  Voyages,  cited,  290  n. 
Medals,  the  Drake,  168;  of  Gray  ex- 
pedition, 215,  241. 
Medvedeff,    Denis,    88,    96,    97-98; 

murder   of,    104. 
Medvednikoff,  commander   at   Sitka, 

308. 

Menzies,  235,  266,  269,  271. 
Afercury,  Cook  on  the,  180. 
Michael,  Kolosh  chief,  308,  310. 
Middleton,  Captain,  174. 
Morai,  the,   Hawaiian  burying-place, 

198,  20 1,  202. 

Morris,  Robert,  and  Ledyard,  254. 
Motley,  John  Lothrop,  cited,  4  n. 
Mottley,  John,  cited,  4  n. 
Mount  Baker,  270. 
Mount  Edgecumbe,  46-47,  189,  331. 
Mount  Hood,  280. 
Mount  Olympus,  235. 
Mount  St.  Elias,  26,  189. 
Miiller,  S.,  scientist,  12  n.,  14  n.;  cited, 

32,  61,  295. 
Murderers'  Harbor,  222. 

N 

Naplavkof,  conspirator,  334-335. 
New  Albion,  Drake's,  164,  173,  182, 

183,  184;  Gray  expedition  off,  218; 

Vancouver's  expedition  sights,  267; 

Vancouver  takes  possession  of,  271. 
New   Archangel,  modern   Sitka,  314, 

333- 

New  Zealand,  explored  by  Cook,  181. 
Nicholson,  William,  edits  Benyowsky's 

memoirs,  128  n. 
Nilow,  governor  of  Kamchatka,  116- 

120. 
Nombre  de  Dios,  storehouse  of  New 

Spain,  140;   Drake's  raid,  141-142. 


Nootka,  Cook's  vessels  at,  186-189, 
248;  Gray  at,  223-227,  232,  238; 
Vancouver's  conference  with  Span- 
ish at,  276-279. 

Nootka  Indians,  Cook  visits,  185-189. 

Nordenskjold,  explorer,  209  n.,  295  n. 

Norfolk  Sound.     See  Sitka  Sound. 

Northeast  Passage,  the,  158-159,  172; 
Drake's  conclusions  regarding,  161; 
Parliament  offers  reward  for  dis- 
covery of,  174;  English  agitation 
over,  174-175,  181;  Cook's  efforts 
to  discover,  182-196;  Captain  Clerke 
decides  there  is  no,  209;  Vancou- 
ver's attitude  on  question  of,  265- 
266;  Vancouver  proves  the  non- 
existence  of,  275,  286-290;  the  Fuca 
legend  concerning,  275  n. 

Northwest-America,  launching  of. 
223;  seized  by  Spanish,  228. 

Norton,  Moses,  175. 

Norton  Sound,  Cook  explores,  195. 

Nuchek  Island,  Baranof  at,  322-324. 

Nutting,  Gray's  astronomer,  214. 


Ochotyn,  Saxon  exile,  123-124. 

Ofzyn,  Bering's  lieutenant,  36,  38,  40. 

Okhotsk,  Bering's  expedition  at,  16. 

Olympus,  Mount,  235. 

Olympus  Range,  222-223,  268. 

Oomnak  Island,  84-85;  sulphur  at, 
92;  sea-otter  on,  98;  Korovin's  ad- 
ventures at,  102-103;  Medvedeff 
and  crew  massacred  at,  104. 

Oonalaska,  otter-hunting  headquar- 
ters, 69,  79,  82,  98;  sulphur  at,  92, 
103;  Korovin's  experiences  at,  98- 
IOI;  Cook  at,  195-196;  Ledyard's 
visit  to,  with  Cook,  250-253. 

Oregon  and  California,  Greenhow's, 
241. 

Oregon  and  Eldorado,  Bulfinch's,  241. 

Oxcnham,  with  Drake,  142. 


INDEX 


347 


Pacha,  Drake's  vessel,  141. 

Pacific  Company,  212.     See  Astor. 

Pallas,  Northern  Settlements  by,  295  n. 

Palliser,  Sir  Hugh,  179. 

Pareea,  Hawaiian  chief,  198,  203. 

Pelican,  Drake's  vessel,  147,  148;  re- 
named Golden  Hind,  150. 

Perpheela,  Ledyard's  guide,  249. 

"Peso,"  defined,  154  n. 

Peter  the  Great,  4-10;  analogy  be- 
tween Cook  and,  176. 

Petroff,  Ivan,  cited,  105  n.,  295. 

Philippine  Islands,  Benyowsky's  visit 
to,  126;  Drake  passes  by,  165. 

Phillips,  marine  with  Cook,  204-205. 

Phoenix,  Baranof  builds,  326. 

Pickersgill,  explorer,  175. 

Pilcher,  sailor  with  Drake,  152  n. 

Pintard,  John  Marden,  211,  229. 

Pissarjeff,  Major-General,  1 6. 

Pizarro,  Francisco,  134. 

Pleneser,  artist,  41. 

Point  Breakers,  185. 

Point  Possession,  271. 

Point  Turn-Again,  192. 

Porter,  Rev.  E.  G.,  lecture  by,  241. 

Portland  Canal,  228 ;  Gray  sails  up, 
230 ;  Vancouver's  exploration  of, 
286. 

Portlock,  J.  E.,  78,  209  n.,  254,  290  n. 

Port  St.  Julian,  Doughty  executed  at, 
147-149. 

Prince  of  Wales,  Cape,  193,  208. 

Prince  of  Wales  Island,  228. 

Prince  William  Sound,  sea-otter  in, 
66;  named  by  Cook,  191;  Rus- 
sian settlements  on,  287,  306, 
322-329. 

Prybiloff  Islands,  otter  and  seal  found 
on,  79. 

Puget,  Peter,  235,  266,269,  27I»  273» 
277,  282. 

Puget  Sound,  explored,  270-271,  273. 


Purchas1  Pilgrims,  cited,  152, 167, 275. 
Pushkareff,  Sergeant,  84-88. 


Quadra,  Don,  238,  240,  273, 322;  Van- 
couver's conference  with,  277-279. 

Quebec,  Cook  with  Wolfe  at,  180. 

Queen  Charlotte  Island,  discovered, 
227  ;  Captain  Kendrick  at,  230- 
232. 

R 

Radisson,  vii,  7,  239. 

Resolution,  Cook's  ship,  181-209. 

Reward  offered  by  Parliament  for  dis- 
covery of  Northeast  Passage,  1 74. 

Rezanoff,  Nikolai,  306,  311,  314-315. 

Robert  Anne,  Benyowsky's  vessel,  127. 

Roberts,  Gray's  surgeon,  214,  216. 

Ross,  Russian  California  colony,  315. 

Russian  American  Fur  Company,  67, 
I28n.;  chartered,  306;  early  vicis- 
situdes of,  307—314;  at  New  Arch- 
angel (Sitka),  314;  in  California, 
315.  See  Baranof. 

Ryumin,  Ivan,  Russian  account  of 
Benyowsky  by,  129. 


Saanach  coast,  sea-otter  on,  69. 

St.  Lawrence  Island,  II,  12. 

St.  Paul,  Bering's  vessel,   17;    Chiri- 

koff  in  command  of,  20,  22,  24  ff., 

60  ;   voyage  of,  45-53. 
St.    Peter,    Bering's    vessel,    17,    20, 

23  ff. ;  wreck  of,  44-45. 
St.  Peter,  the  second,  58-59. 
St.  Peter  and  Paul,  the,  113,  117; 

Benyowsky's  cruise  in,  122-126. 
Sands,  Mr.,  of  New  York,  254. 
Sandwich  Islands,  Cook's  visit  to  and 

death  at,  196-205  ;    Gray  stops  at, 

228-229 ;  conduct    of   fur    traders 


INDEX 


who  visited,  283-284  ;  Vancouver's 
actions  at,  284-285. 

San  Francisco,  Vancouver  at,  281-282. 

Sauer,  cited,  27,  260,  295. 

Savelief,  Sidor,  48. 

Sea  cows,  41,  53. 

Seals,  42,  56-57,  67. 

Sea-otter,  42,  53,  56;  habitat  of,  on 
Aleutian  Islands,  63,  66-67,  82-83  '•> 
Bering's  men  reap  a  fortune  from, 
63-64,  79  ;  influence  of,  on  explora- 
tion of  North  Pacific,  65  ;  descrip- 
tion of,  65-66  ;  methods  of  hunting 
the,  67-78 ;  prices  commanded  for 
fur  of,  76  ;  figures  of  numbers  killed, 
79  ;  the  early  hunters  of,  80-105  '> 
Cook's  trade  in,  187 ;  Gray's  bar- 
gain, 228. 

Selkirk,  Lord,  303. 

Serdze  Kamen,  12  n.,  195. 

Seymour,  Henry,  243. 

Shelikoff,  Gregory  Ivanovich,  303-306, 

3'5- 

Shelikoff,  Natalie,  304. 

Shevyrin,  with  Drusenin,  92-97. 

Shields,  English  shipbuilder  with  Uara- 
nof,  325-326,  328. 

Shumagin  Islands,  30,  192. 

Silva,  Nuno,  Drake's  pilot,  159,  167  n. 

Silver  Map  of  the  World,  168. 

Simpson,  Voyage  Round  World  by, 
295  n. 

Sitka,  Indians  massacre  Russians  at, 
50  n.,  307-310,  332 ;  as  capital  of 
Russian  America,  called  Archangel 
Michael,  306 ;  Russian  American 
Fur  Company  founds  New  Arch- 
angel on  site  of,  314,  333 ;  Bara- 
noPs  career  at,  330-336. 

Sitka  Sound,  Chirikoff  in,  46-52;  sea- 
otter  in,  66,  79;  Vancouver  ends 
his  explorations  at,  289. 

Snug  Cove,  186,  276. 

Society  Islands,  Cook's  first  visit  to, 
180-181;  second  visit,  182. 


Solovieff,  Cossack  hunter,  105. 
South  Seas,  Cook's  voyage  to,  180- 181. 
Spanberg,  Martin,  II,  13,  14, 16,  18,  21. 
Sparks,   Jared,   Life  of  I^dyard  by: 

243  n.,  262  n. 
Staduchin,  explorer,  296. 
Stejneger,    Dr.    Leo,  x,   41  n.,    72  n., 

295  n. 
Steller,  George  William,  14  n.,  20,  23, 

25,  26-27,  3°.  33»  38-40.  41,  42, 

53-55.  60- 

Steller's  Arch,  39. 

Stephanow,  Ilippolite,  108,  no,  125, 
127. 

Straits  of  Fuca,  Cook's  conclusion  as 
to  non-existence  of,  185,  222,  264; 
Gray  sails  near,  223;  Gray  explores, 
227,  235,  269;  Vancouver's  arrival 
at  and  exploration  of,  268-270,  273- 

275- 

Straits  of  Magellan,  135;  Drake's  pas- 
sage of,  150. 

Sulphur  at  Oonalaska,  92,  103. 

Sunday  Harbor,  325. 

Swan,  Drake's  vessel,  140,  141,  147. 


Taboo,  the,  198. 

Tarapaca,  Drake  calls  at,  154-155. 
Terreeoboo,  King,  197-206 
Texeira,  map-maker,  6  n. 
Three  Saints,  Kadiak,  BaranoPs  arrival 

at,  321-322. 
Tillamook  Bay,  Lady  Washington  in, 

219-222. 

Toledo,  Don  Francisco  de,  155-156. 
Treat,  fur  trader  in  Gray's  expedition, 

214. 
Tribute    collectors,    Cossack,    5,    107, 

114,294-296,299. 

u 

I'kamok  (Fcggy  Island),  29. 


INDEX 


349 


Valdes,  Don.  272-273. 

Valparaiso;  Drake's  raid  on,  153—154. 

Vancouver.  George,  vii.  105.  161  ; 
midshipman  with  Cook,  181.  198; 
authority  on  Cook's  vcyages  209  n. ; 
meeting  with  Gray.  235.  268-270 ; 
Gray  contrasted  with,  239-240 ; 
as  captain  in  British  navy,  sent  to 
explore  Pacific  coast  of  America, 
265  ;  ideas  on  Northeast  Passage 
question,  265-266 ;  sights  Drake's 
"New  Albion,"  267;  misses  Colum- 
bia River,  267-268,  235  ;  explores 
Puget  Sound,  270-272  ;  misses 
Fraser  River,  272 ;  explores  Straits 
of  Fuca,  272-275 ;  arrives  at  Nootka, 
276 ;  confers  with  Spanish  repre- 
sentative, 277-279;  sails  to  Colum- 
bia River,  279-280 ;  visits  Cali- 
fornia, 281-282  ;  winters  at  Sand- 
wich Islands  (1792-1793),  283- 
285;  acts  of  injustice  and  justice  at, 
284-285 ;  returns  to  American  coast 
and  surveys  Portland  Canal,  286- 
287  ;  in  1794  surveys  Cook's  Inlet, 
287—289;  work  of,  results  in  explo- 
sion of  theory  of  Northeast  Passage, 
289-290;  authorities  for,  290  n. 

Vancouver  Island,  228,  278. 

Vega,  the,  209  n.,  295  n. 

Veniaminof,  Letters  on  Aleutians  by, 
295  n. 

Venta  Cruz,  Drake  at,  141-145. 


Vet  a  Cruz,   Hawkins  and   Drake  vs, 

the  Spanish  at,  135-138. 
Verendrye.     See  La  Verendrye. 
Voyage  to  the  Pacific   Ocean,  Cook's, 

209  n. 

W 

Walrus,  the  Pacific^  73 ;  Cook's  men 

hunt,  194-195. 
Waters,  Abraham,  230. 
Waxel,  Lieutenant,  20,  24-25,  30,  31, 

32,  33.  35-36,  37-38,  4i,  42,  57-58> 

60. 

Williams,  Orlando,  cited,  4  n. 
Woodruff,  mate  in  Gray's  expedition, 

214,  216. 
World  Encompassed,  The,  by  Francis 

Fletcher,  167  n.-i7i  n. 


Yakutat  Bay,  sea-otter  in,  66,  79. 

Yakutsk,  Bering's  second  expedition 
winters  at,  15;  fur  traders'  rendez- 
vous near,  107,  259 ;  Ledyard's 
arrival  at,  259. 

Yelagin,  Chirikoff  s  pilot,  52. 

Yendell,  Samuel,  230. 

Yermac,  Cossack  robber,  294. 

Yukon,  Russian  traders  on  the,  314, 
315. 


Zarate,  Don  Francisco  de,  quoted  re- 
garding Drake,  150  n. 


- 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 

COLLEGE  LIBRARY 

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